Yosemite New Year 1997 Flood

January 1997. We visited Yosemite as we traditionally did over the New Year. This year we got surprised by the flood. January 1 we spent in our room at Yosemite Lodge. January 2, we had to evacuate from our room to the cafeteria where we spent the night; we could not leave because the roads were washed out. January 3 we were finally able to leave in the afternoon when they managed to get some roads passable. We actually had to take Highway 41 South to Highway 49 north to Mariposa, where we spent the night - then north on highway 49 to Auburn - the Central Valley was experiencing flooding as well, so I5 and US99 were not good options.

[@paulharms7253]

I was a river rafting guide in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the mid 90s (including the Merced and others). When we started our season in the spring of 1997, we were all blown away by amazing amount of debris that was 20-30 up the banks of the rivers. There were huge boulders that had been moved since the previous year, which changed the rapids. Mother Nature is incredible.

[@cloudzrest]

Cool ! Thanks for sharing your home video of this crazy experience

[@donniereiter3646]

Wow classic Yosemite video

[@yosemite735]

Good job. Sounds like an eventful trip

[@5419811108]

Wow