Flooding 7/31, 8/5/22, and Park Reopening

[Beardilocks]

Anyone have any photos or updates on the flash flooding from 7/31/22?  

I've heard reports that ALL the roads are closed but also that only some roads are closed.  I'm curious what part of the park got hit the worst and how bad the flooding is.  

CalTrans says 127 is closed from Riggs Rd (at the dry lake) to Shoshone airport, 168 is closed, 190 is closed on the west side of DVNP.

NPS says "Sections of Hwy 190, North Highway (Scotty's Castle Rd), Lower Wildrose Rd, Dantes View and Artists Drive are closed due to flooding and debris. It is likely that additional roads are impassable."

[Beardilocks]

NPS update:

"This vehicle was swept off Highway 190 a few miles west of Stovepipe Wells. "

The only other comment was "most roads in the park are impacted by flash floods."



Photo courtesy of NPS.



Edit to say: This looks like it must be just about at Lemonigne Canyon Rd? I remember those black outcroppings well.

[Beardilocks]

Mojave got hit pretty bad as well. 

"Kelbaker Road, Cima Road, Essex Road, and Morning Star Road are closed until further notice."




Photo courtesy of NPS.

[TacoLand]

Wish I was down there ... this looks fun to drive / problem solve. But I'm also an idiot.

[Beardilocks]

Update from NPS this morning: 190 is now open.

“We understand there was damage at Towne Pass (between Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs Resort) as well as just outside the park boundary near Death Valley Junction, and further west of the park between the western park entrance and Olancha,” according to a park spokesman on Monday.

The road to Ubehebe Crater and Scotty’s Castle has some asphalt damage.

Park officials said damage appears to be limited to roads.

[bbbb]

I was trying to hike out of the Sierras over Kearsarge Pass on Tuesday afternoon when the storms rolled in. I was approaching the pass from the west side when the storms started up. I was getting close to the Kearsarge Pinnacles and hunkered down behind a boulder for a bit before descending and setting up camp to wait out the storm. 

After hiking down to Onion Valley, I drove through Lone Pine towards Death Valley. There was a sign marked road closed on 190 (near Keeler), but the interagency visitor center in Lone Pine had heard conflicting reports over whether the road was actually closed. I decided to chance it and drove through 190 across the park. It was obvious where some of the flooding had occurred by the road was not impassable.

I must have passed the same doomed car on 190. This was between Emigrant Campground and Stovepipe:



I later saw a tow truck pulling this car out.

There was some puddling in other places, but Caltrans or whomever takes care of the roads did a great job cleaning things up.

Here's the late afternoon view near Death Valley Junction yesterday.




Finally, some clouds re-gathering yesterday evening near Pahrump:

[DeathValleyDazed]

Thanks for the excellent first hand report and photos.

[Beardilocks]

MUCH worse flooding this morning!!!

1000 ppl stranded in the park.  

https://apnews.com/article/floods-nevada...dd8b8575a4

If the Oasis looked like that I’m dying to know what Echo Canyon looks like!   You know there were folks camping there when this hit.  Damn.

[bbbb]

There are some photos and footage of the flooding here as well: https://twitter.com/SirlinJohn/status/15...GJKzw&s=19

[Beardilocks]

Crazy footage. Thanks!