Yellowstone floods obliterate homes, bridges, and roads, more than 100 million Americans are told to stay indoors as a heatwave descends over states, and portions of a hillside burn so strongly that their image is compared to a “volcano erupting.”
As the United States is blasted by an onslaught of extreme weather events in only two days, floodwaters have swept away homes, entire bridges, and sections of roadway, while 100 million Americans have been warned to stay indoors due to heatwaves.
The flood that forced the evacuation of some areas of Yellowstone National Park was caused by torrential rain and melting snowpack, which also resulted in the loss of electricity and the prolonged closure of all five park entrances just as the summer tourist season began.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but scores of trapped campers in south-central Montana had to be rescued by raft.
Cory Mottice, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, said, “We’ve never seen flooding like this in our lifetimes.”
Images and video footage depicted a landslide, a bridge swept out across a creek, and roadways severely undercut by the Gardner and Lamar rivers’ swirling floodwaters.
During the height of the flooding in Montana, other extreme weather events raged elsewhere in the United States.
A toddler and two adults went missing after being washed away in a drainage ditch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, beside Lake Michigan, as a result of intense thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.
The storms occurred as a heatwave settled across regions extending from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north and the Carolinas in the east. Over 100 million Americans are advised to remain indoors.
Before moving east, the heatwave had already broken multiple temperature records in the West.
Parts of the normally verdant Flagstaff region in northern Arizona, which should provide relief from the arid heat, have burned again this year, fueled by winds that grounded air services on Monday.
A portion of a slope burned so strongly that it resembled a volcano erupting.
On Tuesday and beyond, firefighters anticipated more moderate winds, which they hoped would help them bring the flames under control.
The fire has thus far largely avoided residential areas, but it has expanded into a wilderness area and is approaching a lava dome volcano.
Two wildfires blazing on the city’s outskirts have forced the evacuation of approximately 2,500 residences.
Hundreds of additional individuals in California and New Mexico have been forced to evacuate their homes due to the threat of wildfires.
In Butte and Plumas counties, mudslides and debris floods have caused the closure of roughly 50 miles of Highway 70.
The aftermath of last summer’s Dixie mega fire was overwhelmed by mud, rocks, and dead trees during flash floods.
Several motorists were rescued from rubble streaming on a roadway on Sunday evening when hillside debris from last year’s 963,000-acre fire became loose.
Fires consume vegetation and roots, destabilizing the ground and preventing it from absorbing water.
Extreme weather events such as storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires are becoming more violent and more frequent, according to scientists. However, individual weather occurrences cannot be connected to climate change without substantial research.
