An airlift of of workers and guests from the Denali Backcountry Lodge was initiated and carried out on Thursday after flooding endangered the facility there. Bussing the refugees of the rising water became impossible after flooding  in the Kantishna area closed the road and a landslide later closed access via the Eielson Visitors Center.

The National Park Service reported that the road  beyond Wonder Lake closed at 4:30 am because “torrential rains overnight caused what are usually small streams to become raging torrents along and across the Denali Park Road.”

The Kantishna airstip was not useable by fixed-wing aircraft, as a large portion is underwater. But two helicopters and a few other aircraft were able to make it in to evacuate the stranded people out. The airlift was complete by Thursday night.

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