Interchange July 2022
Vol. 50, Iss. 7
Historic Yellowstone area flooding
Photo: Cody Beers
When times are tough, people come together and help each other
By Cody Beers That’s the case in Cooke City, Montana, a community cut off from Gardiner, Montana, Mammoth, Wyoming, and Livingston, Montana, by historic flooding in the north half of Yellowstone National Park. Beginning June 12, unprecedented amounts of rainfall caused substantial flooding, rock slides and mud slides within the north half of Yellowstone National Park and southern Montana including Gardiner, Livingston and Red Lodge. Historic water levels, aided by wet, heavy late-May snow, caused severe damage to roads, water and wastewater systems, power lines, roadways and bridges, and
other critical infrastructure. The historic flooding sent floodwaters down Main Street in Red Lodge and washed out roadways between Mammoth Hot Springs inside Yellowstone and Gardiner, the north entrance into Yellowstone. Flood waters led to saturated soils in Wyoming, too. The rising rivers nearly washed out a bridge on US 212, threatened the Clarks Fork River bridge on WYO 296 near Crandall, and threatened a pair of highway bridges on WYO 120 near Edelweiss and Clark north of Cody. WYDOT maintenance workers rallied to move logs, downed trees and other debris from the upstream side of the bridges on WYO 296 and WYO 120; water levels
began dropping on June 13-14. Workers also moved core-drilling rigs to the bridges in case they were forced to drill holes in the three bridges to keep them from floating downstream. Thankfully, flood waters receded through the week. Later the same week, WYDOT borrowed an excavator from Park County, Wyoming, maintenance and placed large rock around an abutment on a US 212 bridge east of Cooke City. The rock riprap was placed to help the bridge withstand another big water event. WYDOT pitched in, helping Yellowstone assess damage inside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. A WYDOT drone flew the area, collected photoContinued on page 3