Zion National Park reopens, but delays likely amid flood cleanup

ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — As Julio Lopez waded through nearly knee-deep mud and opened the hood of his 2013 Buick sedan, he realized the damage was even worse than he initially thought.

“It’s a total loss,” Lopez, of St. George, Utah, said Wednesday just outside of Zion National Park. “It’s completely wet inside, and the motor is full of mud.”

A day after a flash flood hit Zion and the surrounding areas, Lopez and many others were dealing with the resulting destruction. The park was closed to inbound traffic on Tuesday after a mudslide caused by “a little over an inch of rain in an hour” forced officials to close the south and east entrances to the park on state Route 9.

Huge cleanup effort in ⁦@ZionNPS⁩ a day after flash floods. But more rain could be on the way. pic.twitter.com/22QfNMClrJ

— Kevin M. Cannon (@kmcannonphoto) June 30, 2021

By Wednesday morning, the park had reopened, but visitors dealt with delays as park officials continued to clean up debris on the roads and assess damage. Shuttle buses were running in the park but were temporarily suspended in Springdale, Utah. Park entrances were limited to one lane of traffic.

The park’s oversize parking lot, where most recreational and larger vehicles park, will be closed until further notice, park spokeswoman Amanda Rowland said. She said that many vehicles were stuck in this parking lot on Tuesday, which led to park officials “undoing the fence to get them out.” Visitors who would have used the parking lot should instead plan to park on Lion Boulevard in Springdale. Watchman Trail was also closed.

“There was a pretty significant mudslide here, a lot of debris moving very quickly into one area, so we’re working to get that debris out,” Rowland said.

Rowland said officials were assessing the damage and could not provide a time frame for the parking lot or trail’s reopening. She could also not yet estimate damage costs but said there were no injuries.

“The good news everyone is safe and no lives were lost, and that’s really important,” Rowland said.

An “active technical search and rescue operation” occurred in the park on Tuesday afternoon, but it started before the storm, Rowland said. The rescue was paused during the storm but was completed once the area was safe, she said.

Just outside the park entrance, at Zion Canyon Village, damage from the flash flood was evident as workers spent the day shoveling mud and towing out cars from the shopping mall parking lot.

Martha Lopez, the wife of Julio and a maid at Cable Mountain Lodge in Springdale, was working Tuesday afternoon when flooding began. She said the rain washed mud across the highway and into the shopping mall’s many businesses.

“This hotel is so elegant, but it seemed like a jungle with water, mud and branches coming inside it,” Martha Lopez recalled, in Spanish. “Everything happened so fast, and next thing you know it was all covered in mud.”

Nate Wells, general manager for Zion Canyon Village, said roughly 70 percent of the property’s exterior was covered in about 6 to 10 inches of mud. About 30 rooms at the Cable Mountain Lodge took damage and will need to be cleaned over the next few weeks. All of the other businesses at the shopping mall remained open.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Wells, who has lived in Springdale most of his life. “There’s no way we could have anticipated something like this.”

The park’s flash flood rating on Wednesday was “probable,” meaning some slot canyons, dry washes and small streams were expected to experience flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

Zion is at an increased risk for flash floods during monsoon season in mid-July to September. Those caught in a flash flood should get to higher ground and not attempt to drive in water, officials said. When there is a possibility for bad weather, visitors should not enter narrow canyons.

Visitors can take alternate routes into the park on state Route 59 from Hurricane to the east, and state Route 14 to 89 from Cedar City to the west.

Clark County announced that Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick would be meeting with residents and other volunteers in Overton at 10:30 a.m. Thursday for a community cleanup event. The group plans to meet at Cottonwood Avenue and Moapa Valley Boulevard, the county said in a statement.

Contact Mathew Miranda at mmiranda@reviewjournal.com. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @mathewjmiranda and @k_newberg on Twitter.