The desert areas of Nevada and California are highly susceptible to flash flooding due to the poor drainage that is natural to desert types of landscapes, and Death Valley National Park is no exception. On Sunday, October 4 Death Valley was hit with severe flash flooding from a series of storm cells that hovered over the area, causing delays to visitors who were unable to safely pass the flooded areas. Bindlestiff Tours experienced a 2.5 hour delay on our Death Valley tour on that day due to the determination that it would be unsafe for our vehicles to pass.
Weather conditions within Death Valley National Park were continually updated on the Facebook page of the park, providing ongoing information on road flooding and closures in real time as the events unfolded. Route 190 East and West were closed and re-opened to travel several times throughout the day, and Daylight Pass Road to Beatty suffered debris on the road that caused delays. Badwater Road was closed due to severe flash flooding, and was the scene where several videos were filmed by visitors and posted to Facebook showing the flash flooding. One such video can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/rixen.diana/videos/1065627243477438/ filmed by Diana Rixen.
Updates on flash flooding in Death Valley National Park were brought to social media by visitors using the hashtag #DeathValleyFlashFlood and numerous updates on the situation were posted along with video under this hashtag.
Flash flooding happens when a storm cell drops enough rain to begin motion instead of simply pooling. In areas that have poor natural drainage, the situation of water needing to flow toward lower areas causes large amounts of fast moving water to appear in areas that typically have no water in a matter of minutes. Flash flooding is quite dangerous as it is nearly impossible to predict, and it has the ability to materialize with little warning. Many flash floods have more than enough power to physically move automobiles and sweep people off their feet. This is why it is so important to heed flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service, and if you observe moving water on roadways or low areas to not attempt to cross it. the dangers of being swept away by flash flooding is very real, and many people are injured or killed each you by attempting to cross flood waters.
Bindlestiff tour guides are highly trained to recognize potential dangers that come with natural areas and weather patterns, and the guides assigned to the Death Valley tours yesterday made the determination to not proceed with travel during the flash flooding, opting to delay the travel instead of risking the safety of our guests. While t creates some inconvenience, the safety of our patrons will always be our first priority. Natural landscapes and weather patterns are unpredictable, and as such our tour guides will choose to not attempt any travel that could potentially endanger our guests. This is why the decision was made to wait out the flooding and wait for the Park Service to issue the reopening of the roads before continuing.