Earlier this week, heavy rains and melting snow near Yellowstone National Park combined, causing rivers to overflow, flooding farms and ranches, washing out roads and bridges, and forcing the park to close. The Yellowstone River hit its highest level in decades, and the surge is now moving through nearby Billings, Montana. When Yellowstone National Park reopens—possibly as soon as next week—it will likely open only the southern half. Park officials are still assessing the amount of work needed to safely reopen the northern half.
Photos: Devastating Floods Hit the Yellowstone Region
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![A fast-flowing river undercuts its banks, causing a two-story wooden cabin to start collapsing.]()
Read moreA structure used as park-employee housing starts to fall into the raging Yellowstone River near Gardiner, Montana, on June 13, 2022 #
Gina Riquier / NPS -
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![A two-story cabin floats down a flooding river, seen among hills and mountains.]()
Read moreA structure used as park-employee housing floats down the Yellowstone River on June 13, 2022 #
Gina Riquier / NPS -
![Rushing floodwater overtops a walkway to a brick structure in a river.]()
Read moreThis photo shows flooding at the Billings, Montana, water plant on June 15, 2022, which forced the plant to shut down. #
City of Billings via AP -
![A fast-flowing river erodes its banks, undercutting and damaging part of a two-lane road.]()
Read moreHigh water levels in the Lamar River erode Yellowstone National Park's Northeast Entrance Road, where the park was closed because of heavy flooding, rockslides, and other extremely hazardous conditions, near Gardiner, Montana, on June 13, 2022. #
NPS via Reuters -
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![The broken edge of a washed-away two-lane road in a steep valley sits beside a heavily eroded hillside, above a riverbed showing signs of recent flooding.]()
Read moreFlooding damage on Yellowstone's North Entrance Road, which runs from Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs, in Wyoming, seen on June 15, 2022 #
NPS / Kyle Stone -
![An aerial view of a flooded river on a broad plain of trees and farms.]()
Read moreThe flooded Yellowstone River is seen from the air above Billings, Montana, on June 14, 2022. #
Brittany Peterson / AP -
![A person drives a small construction vehicle beside another with a shovel, on a residential street strewn with sandbags, debris, and receding floodwater.]()
Read moreResidents of Red Lodge, Montana, are seen clearing mud, water, and debris from the small city's Main Street on June 14, 2022, after floodwaters ran through a residential area with hundreds of homes. #
Matthew Brown / AP -
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![A person dumps a bucket of muddy water on the ground.]()
Read moreDavid Armstrong dumps a bucket of muddy water from a flooded basement in Red Lodge, Montana, on June 15, 2022. #
Brittany Peterson / AP -
![A view from inside a car, looking at another car ahead of it that is being battered by several small boulders that fell from a steep hill.]()
Read moreA windshield view shows rocks sliding down the side of a hill and hitting a car at the North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park on June 12, 2022, in this still image obtained from a social-media video. #
Anne Leppold / Reuters -
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Read moreA washed-out bridge is seen along the Yellowstone River on June 15, 2022, near Gardiner, Montana. #
Rick Bowmer / AP -
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![An aerial view of flooding in a wooded part of a small town.]()
Read moreIn this aerial view, flooding is seen in Livingston, Montana, on June 14, 2022. #
William Campbell / Getty -
![A house leans steeply into a flooding river that is undercutting it and dragging it down.]()
Read moreA house is pulled into Rock Creek in Red Lodge, Montana, by raging floodwaters, photographed on June 14, 2022. Officials said more than 100 houses in the small city were flooded when torrential rains swelled waterways across the Yellowstone region. #
Matthew Brown / AP -
![An aerial view of a flooding river that has destroyed parts of a road, bridge, and house.]()
Read moreA house sits in Rock Creek after floodwaters washed away a road and a bridge in Red Lodge on June 15, 2022. #
David Goldman / AP -
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![About a dozen people are seen working to fill sandbags.]()
Read moreVolunteers fill sandbags in Livingston, Montana, on June 15, 2022. #
Rick Bowmer / AP -
![Standing floodwater surrounds trees and houses in a broad mountain valley.]()
Read moreFlooding is seen in Livingston on June 14, 2022. #
William Campbell / Getty -
![People use construction equipment to build up a river bank beside a washed-out bridge.]()
Read moreHighway workers build up the shoreline of a washed-out bridge along the Yellowstone River on June 15, 2022, near Gardiner, Montana. #
Rick Bowmer / AP -
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