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Flooding Forces Closure of Mount Rainier National Park

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Published Date

November 12, 2008

Heavy rains this morning forced Kautz Creek out of its channel and across the Nisqually Road. Shortly thereafter Mount Rainier National Park was closed. NPS photol.

Two years after torrential rains unleashed flooding across Mount Rainier National Park heavy rains have returned and forced the park's closure.

Mount Rainier Superintendent Dave Uberuaga closed the park this morning after flooding from Kautz Creek inundated portions of the Nisqually Road. In some places the water was 6 inches deep.

The park is anticipating continued heavy rain today with a snow level of 9000 feet. Mount Rainier suffered extensive flooding in November 2006, including at Kautz Creek.

“We hope this current flooding will not damage the road and we will be able to reopen as soon as the rain tapers off and the water level drops,” says Superintendent Uberuaga.

There were seven guests at the National Park Inn at Longmire last night. Park rangers escorted those visitors from the park via Skate Creek Road, a route providing administrative access to the park.

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Comments

Submitted by admin on November 14, 2008 - 1:31am.

You can thank the tree-huggers for the flooding shown in the picture.
The park wanted to clear the Kautz Creek channel just upstream from the bridge after the last event to ensure that the river stayed in-channel and protected the infrastructure, but the misguided enviros stopped 'em with all their EIS paperwork. So now, the taxpayer will probably have to pay to fix the road again.
Maybe we oughta just fence these parks off, and NO ONE gets in, no employees, no tax dollars spent!


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