Omaha couple trapped after Yellowstone National Park closes due to flooding
By Jonah Gilmore
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming (KETV) — An Omaha man and his wife are stuck in Montana as floods rage in Yellowstone National Park, leaving people trapped.
Max Ridgway said what he’s seeing is like something out of a movie and he never thought a simple vacation would take a turn, leaving him and his wife stranded.
Ridgway recorded a cellphone video showing water racing below as a home fell in the Yellowstone River.
In the sky, helicopters could be seen dropping sandbags trying to stop this unprecedented flooding.
“I never thought this stuff still happened. I never knew that highways got wiped out due to flooding,” Ridgway said.
He and his wife recently retired, purchased another home in California and were heading there from Omaha while taking a scenic route.
“We tried to leave town yesterday morning and we made it halfway out of town and they turned us back around because the bridge way out,” Ridgway said.
The flooding is a result of recent heavy rainfall that caused the Yellowstone River to swell to a record high, as well as significant runoff from melting snow in higher elevations.
Ridgway said in the area there are electrical lines have fallen across the highway and water has to be boiled.
He said people who live in the area are generous and helping out.
“The hotels are setting up emergency places for people to sleep at. The boy scouts came out and they’re handing out food. They have a booth out here so the community is really pulling together to accommodate everybody,” Ridgway said.
He said his situation is not as bad as it looks because they are safe and they’re counting their blessings because it could be worse.
“We’re just going to ride it out, there’s nothing we can do,” Ridgway said.
He tells KETV NewsWatch7, that they’re being told they could possibly be out by Friday and will likely have to use a one-way road officials say could likely hold the traffic flow.
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