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Video footage shows destruction of Death Valley National Park floods that left thousands stranded

A statement from the park read that rainstorms and floods 'pushed dumpster containers into parked cars, which caused cars to collide into one another'

DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA: Deadly floods at the Death Valley National Park in California, triggered by heavy rainfall, have left 1,000 people stranded and cars crushed. Park officials said the Furnace Creek area in the park experienced 1.7 inches of rain. Officials described the rain as "nearly an entire year's worth of rain in one morning."

Officials also said that rushing floodwaters buried 60 vehicles. 500 park visitors and 500 park workers were left stranded, but no injuries have been reported yet. The California Department of Transportation has claimed that it may take up to four to six hours to clear a main road out of the park, only after which visitors would be able to leave. "All roads into and out of the park are currently closed and will remain closed until park staff can assess the extensiveness of the situation," the National Park Service said on Friday, August 5. A statement from the park said that rainstorms and floods "pushed dumpster containers into parked cars, which caused cars to collide into one another." "Additionally, many facilities are flooded including hotel rooms and business offices," the statement continued. 

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The national park, which is usually dry, experienced only 0.04 inches of rain in 2022, making the year a historically dry one. On Friday, August 5, 2022, it started raining at about 2 am, park visitor and photographer John Sirlin told CBS News. "It was more extreme than anything I've seen there," said Sirlin, who has been visiting the park since 2016. "I've never seen it to the point where entire trees and boulders were washing down. The noise from some of the rocks coming down the mountain was just incredible," he said.

The flash flood warning was eventually removed but a flood advisory remains in effect, the National Weather Service said. According to experts, the average temperature has increased  by 1.1 degrees Celsius, or two degrees Fahrenheit, every year since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution due to the rising concentrations of heat-trapping gases, especially from the combustion of fossil fuels. The air can hold 7 per cent more moisture with each degree Celsius, which leads to more severe storms. An annual report released recently by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said that flooding associated with sea level rise is already accelerating. "Sea level rise impacts are happening now, and are growing rapidly," William Sweet explained in the report. 

"High-tide flooding, often referred to as “king tides,” “nuisance,” or “sunny day” flooding, is becoming increasingly common due to years of sea level rise. "High Tide Flooding (HTF) is defined as the overflow or excess accumulation of ocean water at high tide that covers low-lying areas and typically occurs when tides reach anywhere from 1.75 to 2 feet above the daily average high tide and start spilling onto streets or bubbling up from storm drains. As sea level rise continues, damaging floods that happened decades ago only during a storm now happen more regularly, like during a full-moon or with a change in prevailing winds or currents," the report said.