The Five-Hundred-Year Flood: June Twenty Twenty-Two

In June of twenty twenty-two, a storm system that produced record flooding hit the northern part of Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding communities. Days of heavy rain combined with an unusually large spring snowpack in the Absaroka Range sent floodwaters down the Gardner River and the Yellowstone River at record volumes that destroyed bridges and roads.

The flooding was catastrophic for both Yellowstone and for Gardiner. The north entrance road, which runs through the Gardner River canyon between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs, was destroyed in multiple locations. Sections of road fell into the river. The town of Gardiner was cut off from the park entirely. The flooding also hit the Gardiner area, cutting the town off from park facilities.

For Gardiner, whose entire economy depends on being the gateway to the park's north entrance, the closure was devastating beyond the physical damage. The town's lodging tax revenues fell sharply as visitors stopped coming to a gateway that could not deliver access to the park. Businesses that had organized themselves entirely around the flow of park visitors suddenly faced months without the usual traffic.

Repair work on the north entrance road was completed by the fall of twenty twenty-two, and the road reopened on October thirtieth of that year. Recovery for the community took considerably longer, and the event renewed discussions about the vulnerability of towns and infrastructure built entirely around a single paved road through a canyon that any significant flood can destroy.