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Yellowstone National Park to reopen after flood damage

By Madeline Lauver

Historic floods damaged sections of Yellowstone National Park last week, as severe storms affected communities across the United States.

On June 14, 2022, Yellowstone officials evacuated more than 10,000 visitors due to the floods and shut down the park. Damage was sustained to roadways, bridges and sewage lines in the park, according to National Geographic.

Yellowstone plans to reopen access to the South Loop of the park on Wednesday, June 22. According to Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, "It is impossible to reopen only one loop in the summer without implementing some type of system to manage visitation."

The park implemented an alternating license plate system (ALPS) to limit access to the park as it partially reopens. The ALPS admits cars to the park based on the last numerical digit of their license plate, according to a park release.

Yellowstone will use $50 million in emergency funding from the National Park Service to recover from the storm. Disaster relief efforts will focus on reconstructing roadways and restoring access to communities affected by the storm, including Gardiner and Cook City, Montana.

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Madeline Lauver is a former Editor in Chief at Security magazine. Within her role at Security, Lauver focused on news articles, web exclusives, features and several departments for Security’s monthly digital edition, as well as managing social media and multimedia content.