Yellowstone National Park has temporarily shut down all entrances into the park due to horrific heavy flooding causing rock slides and extremely hazardous conditions for visitors.
The call was issued to close the park just before noon on Monday, June 13. Park officials said the power was also out in multiple locations as the torrential rain continued to flood the rivers flowing through Yellowstone.
Photos posted to the park’s social media showed many roads were washed out, eroded, covered in mud and rocks, or had fallen into the raging rivers overrunning the park.
“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,” Yellowstone NPS wrote on in a press release on Monday.
The Yellowstone River flooding has also compromised multiple bridges and experts say that this year’s flooding has surpassed all past recorded levels.
As of now, park authorities have made it a priority to evacuate all remaining visitors who are still in the park, and no inbound visitors will be allowed in until the situation has stabilized.
Fortunately, no injuries or deaths have been reported so far and park officials are still assessing the toll on roads, bridges, and other facilities
“Many park roads may remain closed for an extended period of time,” the park announced in its press release.