Yosemite to remain closed after wind damage
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Yosemite National Park will remain closed through the weekend after high winds that battered much of California knocked down two giant sequoias and caused millions of dollars in damage.
The park hoped to reopen Tuesday except for areas south of Yosemite Valley, including one entrance, that will remain shut to visitors, the park said Thursday.
High winds that began Monday swept through the state, toppling trees and power lines and knocking out electricity to about 300,000 homes and businesses. Utilities also intentionally blacked out tens of thousands of customers to prevent fires erupting from damaged or downed electrical equipment.
The winds eased Tuesday in the northern and central areas and Wednesday in the south.
Powerful winds here, known as Mono winds, aren’t unfamiliar to those living in the Yosemite area. But this time, wind speeds reached higher-than-normal levels — in some places, over 100 mph — and resulted in unprecedented, widespread devastation. Dozens of homes and vehicles were crushed in rural mountain towns.
Yosemite was struck Monday night. Two giant sequoias in the lower grove of Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias were among trees that fell, park spokesman Scott Gediman told the Sacramento Bee.
Gediman called the Mono winds’ event the park’s biggest in terms of wind speed and damage caused over his 25 years in Yosemite.
Trees also crushed trucks and damaged buildings, including employee homes. Also crushed were a boardwalk and bathroom installed during a $40 million restoration that was finished in 2018, Gediman said.
Crews were working to repair downed electrical lines, especially in the Wawona community, a south park area that remained without power on Thursday, Gediman said.
Among the areas closed until deemed safe was the Tunnel View, a scenic viewpoint on State Route 41 in the Wawona area that offers sweeping views of such icons as Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall.
The park is only open to day visitors. Campgrounds and lodges have been closed for several weeks because the park is trying to reduce the chances of visitors spreading the coronavirus.
Lindsay Stevenson was in a camper van in the Yosemite National Park community of Wawona earlier this week when the strong winds hit, snapping trunks in half and ripping roots out of the ground.
She said her husband, a U.S. Army veteran, described the wind event as “100 times worse” than the Afghanistan War.
When the sun rose Tuesday morning, a “total war zone” was revealed following a terrifying night of nonstop crashing sounds.
Stevenson, a native of Florida, said the wind event in Wawona was “very reminiscent of hurricanes — with a bunch of trees thrown into the mix.” But there was no rain Monday night.
Some roofs in Wawona were sheered off by the force of the winds, Stevenson said. She called parts of Wawona “unrecognizable” now.
The van that she and her husband, James Stevenson, hunkered down in emerged unscathed, but her Honda Element was crushed by a tree. The couple eventually sought shelter from crashing trees in Wawona’s Pine Tree Market, owned by friend Michael Henderson.
Winds damaged market property and the Hendersons’ home beside it. A tree that fell punched a handful of holes in the roof of their house, which are now covered with tarps. Snow started falling in Wawona on Friday afternoon.
Henderson called cleanup and repairs already done by workers and residents “miraculous.” Wawona is still a “train wreck,” he said, but much better than what it looked like Tuesday morning.
Much of the damage was reported in Mariposa and Madera counties. Wawona, and Bass Lake farther south, were among communities hardest hit.
Many residents were still without electricity late in the week and scrambling to patch up damaged roofs ahead of this weekend’s rain and snow. No injuries have been reported in Yosemite and its surrounding communities from the wind event.
Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese, also the county’s director of emergency services, issued a local emergency proclamation on Tuesday requesting state and/or federal assistance.
“Businesses were already in an emergency situation and revenue is already drastically impacted due to COVID-19,” said Mariposa County Economic Development Specialist Tara Schiff, “so this disaster just adds one more layer of financial stress.”
Resident Steve Arata said there was “total devastation” in Bass Lake and he hopes his community gets more help soon.
“The governor needs to get here and declare a state of emergency,” Arata said Tuesday, “because there’s at least 40 homes that are destroyed with trees. … There’s multiple gas leaks. Thank God we don’t have a big fire or an explosion right now.”