Flooding washes out Yosemite Concessions

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 10, 1997

YOSEMITE, Calif. -- Yosemite Concessions Services Corp. is facing the prospect of a financial washout at Yosemite National Park this spring following record floods in January.

At a news conference park officials gave no firm date for the reopening of the park, which has been closed since Jan. 1 because of disastrous flooding in Yosemite Valley.

Keith Walklet, spokesman for YCSC, said the park would be opened gradually over the next few months, with a limited number of visitors being allowed in only certain areas. The financial losses that YCSC will incur in the park's closing have not been estimated.

Floods have damaged 172 rooms at Yosemite Lodge, 189 guest cabins in the valley and 224 employee housing units, Walklet said. No food facilities were affected.

About 1,000 YCSC employees are out of work because of the park's closing, and 250 of them are effectively homeless. At present, there are only about 100 YCSC employees in the park, doing administrative work and damage assessment.