A storm swept through Death Valley National Park over the weekend in dumping more than a quarter of the park’s average annual rainfall in a single day and forcing the closure of several major roads, official this today in a news release.

Death Valley, which lies on the Nevada-California border, is a two-hour drive from Las Vegas.

Furnace Creek in Death Valley received 0.6 inches of rain — more than a quarter of an inch above the area’s typical yearly total. The deluge triggered destructive flash floods that carved through the park’s rocky terrain, covering roads and eroding shoulders while damaging hazardous areas, officials said.

Park officials closed multiple roads to assess storm damage, including Badwater Road, North Highway, West Side Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, and Charcoal Kilns Road. Some roads, like North Highway and Badwater Road, had only recently reopened after late-summer flooding repairs were recently completed.

Despite the closures, many key travel routes remain open, including CA-190 through the entire park, CA-178 Trona Wildrose Road, Daylight Pass and Dantes View.

However, Upper Wildrose and the Road to Cottonwood-Marble Canyons require four-wheel drive vehicles, and unpaved roads throughout the park may be impassable due to mud flows or erosion.





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