Flooding in Alaska's Denali National Park Leaves More Than 100 Stranded | The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel

Here's what happened when more than 100 people were trapped by flooding in Alaska's Denali National Park.


This photo provided by Christina Blakey shows flooding in the Kantishna area of Alaska's Denali National Park on Thursday, June 26, 2014.

(AP Photo/Christina Blakey)


More than 100 visitors and employees had to be rescued from a backcountry lodge at Alaska's Denali National Park following severe flooding Thursday.

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The Anchorage Daily News reports 103 guests and lodge staff had to be taken to higher ground early Thursday morning when the floodwaters reached Denali Backcountry Lodge, according to a park spokesman. About a dozen park employees were stranded by flooding at a different location and had to be rescued as well.

All of the rescued are safe and no injuries were reported, ADN.com added.

(MORE: The Latest on the Midwest Flooding Crisis)

More than 3 inches of rain fell Wednesday and Thursday in the 6 million acre park located between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Wonder Lake recorded 2.91 inches overnight.

"That's a lot of rain in that part of the world," National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Thoman told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "That's really extreme."

Denali Backcountry Lodge was housing about 100 guests and employees when two nearby raging creeks flooded the facility. Those people were evacuated by bus Thursday and taken to a smaller nearby lodge, which provided food but couldn't house them all, Fister said.

(MORE: What To Do If You're Caught in a Flood)

So an airlift was arranged, using two helicopters and several small planes to transport those people to either buses at a ranger station or to private airstrips, the spokeswoman said. The airlift was completed by late Thursday night, she said.

Other lodges in the area did not flood and their guests should be able to get out by road on Friday after some temporary road repairs were completed, Fister said.

A park helicopter also picked up four stranded climbers on the south side of the McKinley River, the spokeswoman said. They advised by satellite phone that had been trying to cross the river for several days but river conditions kept growing more hazardous and they had run out of food, she said.

People camping at the Wonder Lake Campground were able to leave on a bus that was allowed in Thursday afternoon. Fister said some campers chose to remain at the campground on higher ground where there is no danger of flooding.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Muir Glacier and Inlet (1895)

In the photo above, the west shoreline of Muir Inlet in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve is shown as it appeared in 1895. Notice the lack of vegetation on the slopes of the mountains, and the glacier that stands more than 300 feet high. See the glacier as it looked in 2005 on the next page. (USGS/Bruce Molnia)