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Search and Rescue teams are continuing to evacuate residents bordering Yellowstone National Park as severe flooding in the area has left entire communities isolated.
Members of the Park and Gallatin County Search and Rescue team have been working overtime to help families stranded along the Yellowstone River as floodwaters overtake their homes, KBZK.com reported.
On Monday Yellowstone National Park closed all of its entrances as major flooding created mudslides, rockslides and power outages inside of Yellowstone National Park and has isolated outlying communities.
Captain Tad Dykstra of the Park County Sheriff’s office says rescue teams have plucked countless people from their homes on Highway 89 which have been submerged in flood waters.
One of the people rescued include Jason Mascari, who was stranded in his home with his family and dog until search and rescue teams arrived on a raft to evacuate them and take them to higher ground
Captain Tad Dykstra of the Park County Sheriff’s office says rescue teams have plucked countless people from their homes on Highway 89 which have been submerged in flood waters
Mascari said that the water in his home was knee-deep and this is the worst flooding he’s ever seen
Members of the Park and Gallatin County Search and Rescue team have been working overtime to help families stranded along the Yellowstone River as floodwaters overtake their homes
One of the people rescued include Jason Mascari, who was stranded in his home with his family and dog until search and rescue teams arrived on a raft to evacuate them and take them to higher ground.
Mascari said that the water in his home was knee-deep and this is the worst flooding he’s ever seen.
‘Normally we’re used to floods, we’ve got a flood wall around the house and you’re pretty prepared, but the river took charge today,’ Mascari said. ‘I mean, there’s high historic floods, but our house has been an island in the past, and it’s not anymore.’
He said his neighbors have not fared any better and they’ve also seen their homes submerged in flood waters.
‘Search and Rescue took the kids and the dogs—but the water’s moving through everybody’s house on this road—it’s pretty sad,’ Mascari added.
While numerous homes and other structures were destroyed, there were no immediate reports of injuries, AP reported.
Yellowstone officials said they were assessing damage from the storms, which washed away bridges, caused mudslides and forced evacuations by boat and helicopter.
The record floodwaters have knocked out roads and bridges in Montana and Wyoming and forced the closure of all entrances to the park, leaving tourists stranded.
It’s unclear how many visitors are stranded or have been forced to leave the park and how many people who live outside the park have been rescued and evacuated.
Flooding in Livingston, Montana after the Yellowstone River hit a historic high flow from rain and snow melt from the mountains in and around Yellowstone National Park
Mountains seen in the backdrop of heavy flooding that has led to mass evacuations of homes in the communities surrounding Yellowstone River
Aerial view of severe flooding in Livingston, Montana where residents had to be evacuated
The flooding cut off road access to Gardiner, Montana, a town of about 900 people near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers, just outside Yellowstone’s busy North Entrance. Cooke City was also isolated by floodwaters and evacuations were also issued for residents in Livingston
The bridge at Rescue Creek in the park after being washed out
The National Park Service said that the flooding is ‘beyond record levels’
Some of the worst damage happened in the northern part of the park and Yellowstone´s gateway communities in southern Montana. National Park Service photos of northern Yellowstone showed a mudslide, washed out bridges and roads undercut by churning floodwaters of the Gardner and Lamar rivers.
The flooding cut off road access to Gardiner, Montana, a town of about 900 people near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers, just outside Yellowstone’s busy North Entrance. Cooke City was also isolated by floodwaters and evacuations were also issued for residents in Livingston.
Cooke City was also isolated by floodwaters and evacuations were issued for residents in Livingston.
Officials in Park County, which encompasses those cities, said on Facebook that extensive flooding throughout the county had made drinking water unsafe in many areas.
Evacuations and rescues were ongoing and officials urged people who were in a safe place to stay put overnight.
The Montana National Guard said on Monday that it had sent two helicopters to southern Montana to help with the evacuations.
Cory Mottice, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, said rain is not in the immediate forecast, and cooler temperatures will lessen the snowmelt in coming days.
‘This is flooding that we’ve just never seen in our lifetimes before,’ Mottice said.
On Monday shocked bystanders captured the moment a large home was washed away down a surging Yellowstone River in Gardiner, Montana.
The home was reportedly occupied by employees of the park when it fell into the river.
The Carbella Bridge, just north of the park, was also washed away as the river levels rose due to the rainfall, while a number of roads were washed out following devastating mudslides caused by the severe weather.
The park said in a statement: ‘Effective immediately, all entrances to Yellowstone National Park are temporarily CLOSED due to substantial flooding, rockslides and mudslides on roadways from recent unprecedented amounts of rainfall and flooding.’
The statement added: ‘With additional rainfall forecasted, the park does not want large numbers of day-use visitors stranded in the park.’
In a separate statement the National Park Service said that the flooding is ‘beyond record levels.’ The park’s service said that water levels had reached three feet in some places.
All five park entrances have been closed to inbound traffic for the first time since a series of devastating wildfires in 1988. The move comes just as the summer tourist season is ramping up.
Yellowstone National Park stretches across 2.2 million acres and is located primarily in Wyoming but stretches into Montana and Idaho also. It is perhaps most famous for its geysers, including Old Faithful.
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