Yellowstone National Park to Reopen on Wednesday After Devastating Flood That Wrecked Roads, Bridges
The Yellowstone National Park is set to reopen after the devastating flood that destroyed some of the famous tourist spot's roads and bridges and affected the nearby towns.
The Park Service announced on Saturday that visitors will be allowed to enter the national park's southern loop again, per the Daily Mail.
The Yellowstone National Park will allow the public to enter its southern loop under a temporary license plate system designed to manage the incoming crowds.
The license plate system will allow vehicles with even-numbered plates and motorcycle groups to enter during even-numbered days. Meanwhile, odd-numbered or vanity plates will be allowed to enter on odd-numbered days.
The southern loop of the Yellowstone National Park gives access to several tourist sites, including the Grand Canyon and rainbow-colored Grand Prismatic Spring.
Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly expressed gratitude to those who exerted their efforts to reopen the southern loop of the national park.
"My thanks to our gateway partners and others for helping us work out an acceptable temporary solution for the south loop while we continue our efforts to reopen the north loop," Sholly noted.
Yellowstone National Park's north loop is expected to remain closed through summer, if not longer. Officials claimed that reopening the said areas could take years, adding that the destruction caused by the flood amounted to $1 billion.
The greatest damages were reportedly recorded at the highways connecting the Yellowstone National Park to Gardiner, Montana, and Mammoth Hot Springs.
Construction season only occurs from the spring to the first snowfall. However, park officials told Fox News on Sunday that they hope to reopen the Parks northern loop within the next two weeks.
Towns Outside Yellowstone National Park Struggle to Recover From Flood
Nearby towns with famous tourist attractions are also struggling to recover.
According to reports, a key bridge that leads to the town of Fishtail remained collapsed, prompting the traffic to divert to a single-lane county road.
Meanwhile, the farming town of Fromberg in Montana was also affected by the flood, prompting the Clarks Fork River to deluge almost 100 homes and badly damage major irrigation that served many farms in the town.
Fromberg Mayor noted that at least a third of the 100 homes cannot be repaired.
Yellowstone National Park Flood
Last week, the Yellowstone National Park flood prompted the famous tourist attraction to close all five entrances.
The tragedy was reportedly caused by "unprecedented rainfall" that caused substantial flooding, rockslides, and mudslides on roadways.
Residents near the famous tourist spot were also forced to evacuate due to the weather. Some parts of Livingston were placed under a pre-evacuation order last week. Red Lodge in Montana was placed under evacuation as the weather conditions last week caused basements to be swamped and swept away bridges.
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Written By: Joshua Summers
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