Date: July 25, 2007
Contact: Al Nash, (307) 344-2010
Contact: Stacy Vallie, (307) 344-2012

Heavy rain late Wednesday afternoon caused a mudslide across the East Entrance Road in Yellowstone National Park.

The slide occurred about 5:30 p.m. in the construction zone just east of Sylvan Pass.  The mudslide crosses both traffic lanes.  It is about 50 feet long and varies in depth from one to five feet.  No vehicles were trapped in the slide and no one was hurt.

The East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park is temporarily closed.  The road has also been temporarily closed at the Pelican Creek barricade near Fishing Bridge.

Rangers, park maintenance staff, a representative of the Federal Highway Administration, and employees of H-K Contractors, Inc. are at Sylvan Pass.  They are scanning the debris with a metal detector for unexploded ordinance used for winter time avalanche control and then removing the material from the road.

It’s not known when the East Entrance Road will reopen to traffic.

Sylvan Pass was closed for six days in July2004 when 30-thousand tons of debris came down upon the road in the same locations.

Updated information on park roads is available 24-hours a day by calling (307) 344-2117.

- www.nps.gov/yell -