The January 1997

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

of the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

(flooded/flooded from the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the Merced River) occurred from December 31, 1996, to January 5, 1997, throughout the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Mariposa County Mariposa County () is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresno, east of ...

, California, US. The flood stands as arguably the park's worst natural disaster to date (some would give this designation to the rockfall of 1996 or the Rim Fire of 2013), and inarguably the worst flood in park history. The Merced River at

Happy Isles Happy Isles is a group of small isles in the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. They are located at the easternmost end of the Yosemite Valley floor. This scenic spot is the starting point for the Mist Trail, and is also the ...

peaked at 10,100 cubic feet per second during the flood. A book was written on the flood later in 1997 by Mark Goodin titled ''Yosemite: The 100-Year Flood''.

Beginnings

Thoughts about flooding at the end of 1996 would likely have been directed toward a May 1996 flood that had been, at the time, the fifth worst flood in park history. The 1997 flood would soon bump this flood down to sixth on the list. The last week in 1996, an unusually warm rain began to fall on the snow-packed mountains above Sacramento. The snow then began melting during a torrential 24-hour rainfall on January 1–2, 1997. The rain and melted snow overflowed small creeks and eventually the large

, which flows through Yosemite Valley. Although nearly simultaneous flooding of the Tuolumne River, also originating in Yosemite National Park, did little damage within the park, it did major damage downstream in the City of Modesto.

Effects

The flooding stranded 2,100 visitors in the park. Stranded New Years' vacationers were finally able to begin leaving Yosemite Valley on January 3, as the worst of the flooding was over, though the drive out of the park still saw many cars partially submerged in water. All roads out of the park— Highway 120, Highway 41, and Highway 140—were inundated by the floodwaters. Though there were luckily no human fatalities, Yosemite Valley suffered many damages. Trails and bridges were badly damaged, and about half of all accommodations were destroyed.

Yosemite Lodge Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, often referred to informally within the Park as "The Lodge" is located in western Yosemite Village, Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California. The lodging accommodation is close to Yosemite Falls. The Lodg ...

, which has its hotel rooms in separate individual buildings, had 189 cabins and 108 hotel rooms badly damaged or destroyed in the flooding, drastically depleting the hotel's capacity. Half of all campsites were destroyed. Trash cans, picnic tables, bearproof storage boxes, and fire grates floated down the river. The estimated cost of rebuilding the Upper Pines, Lower Pines, and North Pines and removing the damaged Upper and Lower River campgrounds was over $8 million. Total park damages were estimated at $178 million. Highway 120 west out of the park was inundated in many areas and closed for nearly half a year for repairs. Damage assessment was delayed considerably due to a cold front and subsequent snowstorm that brought frozen precipitation back to the Valley on January 5.

Other areas affected

Other towns affected by the floods included: * El Portal * Foresta * Wawona

Top five Yosemite floods

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merced River Flood, 1997

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Yosemite National Park History of Mariposa County, California History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) 1997 in California 1990s floods in the United States 1997 floods 1997 natural disasters in the United States

Beginnings

Effects

Other areas affected

Top five Yosemite floods

Suggested reading

See also

References