Rock slide closes road

A portion of Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed in Glacier National Park Tuesday afternoon due to rock and mud slides.

“We’ve got the road closed between Avalanche Creek and Logan Pass,”  said Denise Germann, the park’s public affairs specialist. “Several large rock slides and mud slides have been reported.”

Germann emphasized that she was relying on initial reports just before 5 p.m. and there were few details about the slides.

“We’ve got rangers and other park employees responding,” she said. “We’re turning cars around. We’ll be moving people around.”

Germann said there wasn’t much rain at West Glacier during the afternoon, but there were reports of rain at higher elevations in the park.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch just before 5 p.m. for Flathead and Lincoln counties and Glacier Park until midnight because of slow moving thunderstorms that had developed in the region.

“These storms will be capable of producing very heavy rain,” the service’s advisory stated. “Rainfall rates in excess of an inch and a half an hour are possible with these storms. The heavy rain could cause flooding ... but also rock and mud slides in the higher terrain.”