Death Valley faces flash floods, closing some roads into the west side of the national park.
Death Valley, one of the hottest places in the world and the point of lowest elevation in North America, is typically extremely dry. It’s in the rain shadow of not one but four major mountain ranges, and surrounded by other desert to the north and east, and occasionally goes entire years without measurable rainfall.
But rain does fall in the ranges that border the valley. The margins of the flat salt-pan valley floor are painted with alluvial fans, the recorded history of hundreds of flash floods in the mountains.
Major storms over the weekend that rolled across California, northern Arizona, and Western Nevada caused heavy flash flooding in those mountains, taking out roads all over the park. The National Weather Service measured over an inch of rain in 15 minutes on Sunday, near nearby Kingman, Arizona. Kingman typically sees less than 10.4 inches a year.
According to the National Parks Service, Scotty’s Castle Road, Lower Wildrose Road, Dantes View and Badwater Road to Shoshone are all closed because of flooding, undercutting, and debris. The alert says the list is not exclusive, and that more roads will close without notice. They recommend people not try to drive into the park at this time, and to be very cautious leaving.
The only road with any estimate of a repair date is the Scotty’s Castle Road, and the NPS says “no earlier than April 2023.” It also says to “assume all unpaved roads are impassable.”
Flooding also destroyed roads in Southern California’s Mojave National Preserve, closing highways and campgrounds, and mudslides blocked roads around the San Bernardino National Forest near Los Angeles.
Thunderstorms in the area are continuing all week. In addition, the NPS is warning for wildfire risk in the same areas, and no open flame is allowed in any Death Valley National Park campground.
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