CODY — All roads around the Cody area have now reopened after the massive thunderstorms that triggered mudslides Wednesday night caused closures and new information shows how many people were truly impacted.
The event stranded motorists and shut down the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It was thought initially that only a few people were stranded, the final number ended up closer to 200, though. Many of the motorists found refuge at Pahaska Teepee Resort during the ordeal.
Cody Beers is the public relations expert for the Wyoming department of transportation and mentioned that mudslides do happen on US highway 14-16-20 but the area of this one was uncommon.
"We do have mudslides from time to time on that road. We have rocks that come down on the road in certain areas but I believe this was a newer area for a mudslide. And when you get that type of moisture all of a sudden in a very dry situation like we've been having, you can end up with the soil on top getting saturated. That then causes the slide of rocks, debris, trees, mud, the whole deal," said Beers.
Mudslides weren't the only weather event to strike the town though as it was also struck with hail and flooding.
Olive Glenn Golf club was one of the hardest hit by the hail. The club had to suspend operations on Wednesday, August 24 due to the damage to the greens. A tournament was also rescheduled but the crews were able to repair the course and reopen the next day.
Downtown Cody was flooded by multiple inches of water from the thunderstorms as well.
"I have never, that I can remember have seen anything this crazy before. Not with this much water like this," said Cody resident Wyatt Becker.
Despite the trifecta of hail, flooding and mudslides around the Cody area. The city seems to escape severe damage.
"There was more hail damage than there was flood damage but I talked to one business owner, and they said they just put fans down to dry out the ground from the water. There wasn’t too much damage from what I’ve heard. A couple businesses had some hail damage on their roof though but other than that nothing too much from the flooding," added Becker.
