Starting in the late afternoon on Saturday, August 19th, 2023 and continuing on and off until Monday, August 21st, Death Valley National Park was hit by the remnants of Hurricane Hilary. This included heavy rain, which led to flooding in many areas of the park and a parkwide closure for safety.
On Sunday, August 20th, 2.2 inches (55.88 mm) of rain was measured at Furnace Creek, making it the all time wettest day recorded for that location and breaking the previous record set in 2022 of 1.7in (43mm). While 2.2 inches may not sound like much, it is greater than the park's annual average rainfall (2.15 in/54.6 mm)!
Below are some photo galleries of the flooding, the extensive damage it caused, and the equally extensive repair work.
