The notoriously dryDeath ValleyNational Park has been hit by a torrential downpour , triggering flash floods that left around 1,000 hoi polloi stranded . Some 500 visitors and 500 park staff at the California hot spot could n’t decease the orbit due to extensive damage to roads and other critical infrastructure , according to the National Park Service ( NPS ) .
“ Death Valley is an unbelievable place of extremes , ” aver park superintendent Mike Reynolds in astatement . “ It is the hottest place in the world , and the driest place in North America . ”
“ This calendar week ’s 1,000 - year flood is another example of this utmost surround . With climate change models predicting more frequent and more vivid storms , this is a place where you may see climate change in action ! ”
While the park does experience annual monsoons , the total average rainfall in Death Valleydoes not exceed5.6 centimeters ( 2.2 inch ) . This yearly physique was almost reached in just three time of day on Friday , August 6 , when 3.70 centimeter ( 1.46 inches ) of rainfall fell on Furnace Creek .
The downpour was just a whisker away from breaking the parking area ’s all - time daily rainfall record of 3.73 centimetre ( 1.47 inches ) , set up in 1988.Floodingof this intensity has not been seen in Death Valley since2004 , when two the great unwashed were killed after their vehicle was cross away by the torrent .
as luck would have it , no trauma have been reported this time around so far , and the NPS says that “ people who were antecedently shelter in place have been able to carefully move around out through the damage roadways . ” However , parting of the common remain inaccessible due to detritus on the roads and asphalt harm , while around 60 vehicles arereported to have become trappednear Furnace Creek .
A portion of the Cow Creek water organisation – which serves many park residents and facilities – has been keep out down by the floods , which have washed out around 183 meters ( 600 foot ) of the urine main . Hotel suite and local businesses have been invaded by floodwaters , and many facilities across Death Valley are now offline .
Around 86 meters ( 282 groundwork ) below ocean degree and flanked by usurious mountains , Death Valley is illustrious for theextreme summertime temperaturesthat arise due to its alone geographic feature . Furnace Creek ’s track record air temperature of 56.7 degrees Celsius ( 134 Fahrenheit ) , set in July 1913 , remains the highest temperature ever immortalize anywhere on Earth .
Though meteorologist have described the recent floods as a “ 1,000 - year ” event , this does not needfully mean that flood of this order of magnitude occur once in a millennium . Rather , it simply means that there is a one - in - a - thousand opportunity of such extreme conditions in any given year .
All road in the Death Valley National Park are currently close as a result of the late floods , and the NPS has warned visitors and residents not to essay driving through floodwaters . It is not yet clean when road or local facilities will re - open .
