Emergency funding provided for Death Valley flood repairs

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Nearly $12 million has been made available to the National Park Service to repair flood damage to roads in Death Valley National Park, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration said Monday.

Most roads in the desert park have been closed since runoff from thunderstorms on Aug. 5 wiped out major sections of roadways or covered them with debris.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that the $11.7 million in emergency relief funding will allow roads to reopen quickly.

“This level of disaster, formerly considered an every-thousand-year phenomenon, gives us renewed urgency in the steps we’re taking to fight the climate crisis and to make our infrastructure more resilient,” he said.

Elsewhere in the Southern California deserts, floods linked to this summer’s very active monsoon season have also damaged roads in the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park.