Flooding in Death Valley....no, really !!!! (long)
08-19-2004, 12:08 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
Flooding in Death Valley....no, really !!!! (long)
As alot of you know I live in Death Valley National Park at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort.....
On Sunday we received more rain in 15 min than we have in the last 5 years !!!!....this led to MAJOR flooding in the park, and since our Resort is at the bottom of Furnace Creek Wash we recieved MAJOR damage to personal and company property.....
Employees live in three different dormatories here...the Annex, The Gulch, and The Dunes, The Gulch is located at the top and to the side of Furnace Creek Wash, the Annex is located at the base of Furnace Creek inn and directly in the middle of the Wash, and the dunes is located at the bottom of the wash at the Ranch. We get most of our water from a 2-million gallon tank located behind The Gulch.
On Sunday night it started raining HEAVILY.....water from that rain loosened up debris located on the hill above the water tank and sent a land-slide into the tank. That landslide ruptured the main outlet of the tank and sent 2-million gallons of water flowing into Furnace Creek Wash (in addition to the already SERIOUS flooding that was occuring in the Wash), that water then proceded down the wash and slammed into The Annex, the wall of water that hit The Annex was over 14 feet tall !!! 7 cars and vans that were parked at The Annex were completely destroyed, one vehicle was moved over 1.5 miles, the closest was over 400 yards away from the building after the flood....all were parked AT The Annex to begin with !!! The Annex was also seriously damaged but thankfully due to a VERY attentive security guard all employees were safely out of the building by the time the wall of water hit.
The water continued down the wash carrying thousands of tons of rocks (and a few cars) and completely destroyed the intersection of Hwy 190 and 127....you can't even tell now that there was an intersection and a park monument there. From there the water flowed across the rest of Hwy 190 and straight into the Furnace Creek Ranch.....there was over a foot of water on "Main" St at one point and we now have 6 inches of mud covering everything (including a few hotel rooms)....Thankfully by the time the water got to the Ranch it had spread out over the valley floor and had substantially less force than it did a mile higher in the Wash, the Historic Furnace Creek Inn received only minor damage to the entrance and exit paths (mostly due to the fact that The Annex which is situated at the base of the Inn took most of the force of the water) and the other employee Dorm (the Dunes) recieved slight flooding but was otherwise unharmed
We lost power and water at the Ranch due to the flood....power was restored at 5:30 on Monday night but we *just* got water back about an hour ago (imagine 3 1/2 days in the desert with only limited drinking water and NO way to take a shower....it was getting pretty ripe around here), all roads in and out of the valley are completely closed to outside travel (employees can travel at there own risk on ONE road only) and Death Valley National Park is Completely Closed for business until at least next Monday. All visitors to the park were evacuated Monday morning via the ONLY ROAD that the park service was able to even partially clear. CalTrans and the National Park Service are working around the clock to restore road travel and bring regular services to the 400+ employees that live and work here
Even without the water tank rupturing there would have been VERY SERIOUS damage.....that extra water only made things that much worse !!!
Only two lives were lost in the flooding.....they were guests from the LA area that tried to drive through a flooded road about 15 miles from here and were caught in the current, there vehicle was overturned and battered by the mud and rocks in the water until the Ford Ranger they were driving resembled a wadded up piece of tin-foil
I will try to get some pictures tomorrow.....but since travel is still VERY limited and the areas that the flooding affected are VERY dangerous it will be kinda hard to do
Thought you guys might like to hear about my week.......
On Sunday we received more rain in 15 min than we have in the last 5 years !!!!....this led to MAJOR flooding in the park, and since our Resort is at the bottom of Furnace Creek Wash we recieved MAJOR damage to personal and company property.....
Employees live in three different dormatories here...the Annex, The Gulch, and The Dunes, The Gulch is located at the top and to the side of Furnace Creek Wash, the Annex is located at the base of Furnace Creek inn and directly in the middle of the Wash, and the dunes is located at the bottom of the wash at the Ranch. We get most of our water from a 2-million gallon tank located behind The Gulch.
On Sunday night it started raining HEAVILY.....water from that rain loosened up debris located on the hill above the water tank and sent a land-slide into the tank. That landslide ruptured the main outlet of the tank and sent 2-million gallons of water flowing into Furnace Creek Wash (in addition to the already SERIOUS flooding that was occuring in the Wash), that water then proceded down the wash and slammed into The Annex, the wall of water that hit The Annex was over 14 feet tall !!! 7 cars and vans that were parked at The Annex were completely destroyed, one vehicle was moved over 1.5 miles, the closest was over 400 yards away from the building after the flood....all were parked AT The Annex to begin with !!! The Annex was also seriously damaged but thankfully due to a VERY attentive security guard all employees were safely out of the building by the time the wall of water hit.
The water continued down the wash carrying thousands of tons of rocks (and a few cars) and completely destroyed the intersection of Hwy 190 and 127....you can't even tell now that there was an intersection and a park monument there. From there the water flowed across the rest of Hwy 190 and straight into the Furnace Creek Ranch.....there was over a foot of water on "Main" St at one point and we now have 6 inches of mud covering everything (including a few hotel rooms)....Thankfully by the time the water got to the Ranch it had spread out over the valley floor and had substantially less force than it did a mile higher in the Wash, the Historic Furnace Creek Inn received only minor damage to the entrance and exit paths (mostly due to the fact that The Annex which is situated at the base of the Inn took most of the force of the water) and the other employee Dorm (the Dunes) recieved slight flooding but was otherwise unharmed
We lost power and water at the Ranch due to the flood....power was restored at 5:30 on Monday night but we *just* got water back about an hour ago (imagine 3 1/2 days in the desert with only limited drinking water and NO way to take a shower....it was getting pretty ripe around here), all roads in and out of the valley are completely closed to outside travel (employees can travel at there own risk on ONE road only) and Death Valley National Park is Completely Closed for business until at least next Monday. All visitors to the park were evacuated Monday morning via the ONLY ROAD that the park service was able to even partially clear. CalTrans and the National Park Service are working around the clock to restore road travel and bring regular services to the 400+ employees that live and work here
Even without the water tank rupturing there would have been VERY SERIOUS damage.....that extra water only made things that much worse !!!
Only two lives were lost in the flooding.....they were guests from the LA area that tried to drive through a flooded road about 15 miles from here and were caught in the current, there vehicle was overturned and battered by the mud and rocks in the water until the Ford Ranger they were driving resembled a wadded up piece of tin-foil
I will try to get some pictures tomorrow.....but since travel is still VERY limited and the areas that the flooding affected are VERY dangerous it will be kinda hard to do
Thought you guys might like to hear about my week.......
08-20-2004, 08:11 PM
#7
TECH Addict
Thread Starter
yeah...the trucks fine....it needs a SERIOUS bath though because I have been putting the 4 wheel drive to work for the company running people up and down the hill to the Annex and Gulch to get things (all of the employees that lived there are now housed at the Ranch because those buildings are cut off from the rest of the property by the damage from flooding)
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