91视频

By Matthew Brown and Brittany Peterson

The Associated Press

FROMBERG, Mont. 鈥� While officials are pushing to reopen Yellowstone National Park quicker than anticipated after , some of the people hit hardest in the disaster live far from the famous park鈥檚 limelight. They鈥檙e leaning heavily on one another to pull their lives out of the mud.

Park officials said Sunday that they hope to have most of Yellowstone open within two weeks, as they use a $50 million infusion of federal highway money to accelerate road and bridge repairs. There鈥檚 still no timetable for restoring connections between the park and neighboring portions of Montana where the recovery is expected to stretch for months.

In and around the agricultural community of Fromberg, the Clarks Fork River flooded almost 100 homes and badly damaged a major irrigation ditch that serves many farms. The town鈥檚 mayor said that for about a third of the flooded homes, repairs are infeasible.

Not far from the riverbank, Lindi O鈥橞rien鈥檚 trailer home was raised high enough to avoid major damage. But water entered her barns and sheds, and she lost some of her poultry. Her recently deceased parents鈥� home also became swamped with several feet of water.

Elected officials who showed up to tour the damage in Red Lodge and Gardiner 鈥� Montana tourist towns that serve as gateways to Yellowstone 鈥� haven鈥檛 visited Fromberg to see the devastation. The lack of attention is no surprise, O鈥橞rien said, given the town鈥檚 location away from major tourist routes.

She鈥檚 not resentful but resigned to the idea that if Fromberg is going to recover, its roughly 400 residents will have to do much of the work themselves.

鈥淲e take care of each other,鈥� O鈥橞rien said as she and two longtime friends, Melody Murter and Aileen Rogers, combed through mud-caked items scattered across her property. O鈥橞rien, an art teacher for the local school, had been fixing up her parents鈥� home with hopes of turning it into a vacation rental. Now she鈥檚 not sure it鈥檚 salvageable.

鈥淲hen you get tired and get pooped, it鈥檚 OK to stop,鈥� O鈥橞rien told Murter and Rogers, whose clothes, hands and faces were smeared with mud.

A few blocks away, Matt Holmes combed through piles of muck and debris but could find little to save out of the trailer home that he shared with his wife and four children.

Holmes had taken the day off, but said he needed to return to his construction job soon so he could begin making money again. Whether he can bring in enough to rebuild is unclear. If not, Holmes said he may move the family to Louisiana, where they have relatives.

鈥淚 want to stay in Montana,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we can.鈥�

Yellowstone will partially reopen on Wednesday at 8 a.m., more than a week after more than 10,000 visitors were forced out of the park when the after accumulating snowmelt and several inches of rainfall.

Only portions of the park that can be accessed along its 鈥渟outhern loop鈥� of roads will be opened initially. Access to the park鈥檚 scenic backcountry will be for day hikers only.

Within two weeks officials hope to open the northern loop, after previously declaring that it would likely stay closed through the summer season. The northern loop would give visitors access to popular attractions including Tower Fall and Mammoth Hot Springs. They鈥檇 still be barred from the Lamar Valley, which is famous for its prolific wildlife including bears, wolves and bison that can often be seen from the roadside.

鈥淭hat would get 75 to 80 percent of the park back to working,鈥� National Park Service Director Charles 鈥淐huck鈥� Sams said Sunday during a visit to Yellowstone to gauge the floods鈥� impacts.

It will take much longer 鈥� possibly years 鈥� to fully restore two damaged stretches of road that connect the park with Gardiner to the north and Cooke City to the northeast.

During a tour of damaged areas on Sunday, park officials showed reporters one of six sections of road near Gardiner that had been obliterated by the raging Gardner River. Muddy water now courses through where the roadbed had been only a week ago. Trunks of huge trees litter the walls of the surrounding canyon.

Park Superintendent Cam Sholly said 20,000 tons of material were being hauled in for construction of a temporary, alternate route along an old road that runs above the canyon, so that employees who work at the park headquarters in Mammoth can reach their homes in Gardiner.

Meanwhile, outside of the population centers that border the park, there鈥檚 a maze of damaged roads that have left remote areas isolated. A key bridge that leads to the town of Fishtail collapsed, causing traffic to divert through a single-lane county road. There are about 500 people in Fishtail.

Lee Johnson and his wife and daughter run the Fishtail restaurant MontAsia, so named because it鈥檚 a fusion of Malaysian and Montana cuisine. Business has plummeted, he said.

鈥淲hen we opened for the first time after the flood, it started just dead,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd you start to have that sense of dread creep in. Did I do all this, did I sink all this money in, have I started this business and people can鈥檛 even get here anymore?鈥�

Johnson and his Malaysian wife, Yokie, took over the lease for a landmark 124-year-old Fishtail building earlier this year, transferring their restaurant from another part of the state. For Yokie, the business was a dream come true.

鈥淣ot being from Montana, I wanted to own something,鈥� she said.

Going into business with her family was Yokie鈥檚 biggest goal. Running the restaurant gives her strength as she battles cancer, she said.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how much time I have left, so the time I have left I want to be with my family, work with them every day, see them every day,鈥� she said.

Johnson said he is humbled by the chance to support his wife and determined to keep the restaurant open while the flood damage is repaired.

鈥淵ou hitch your wagon to this community and it鈥檚 just a matter of keeping up,鈥� he said.