YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK – Chunks of granite crashed to the Yosemite Valley floor in a cloud of dust yesterday, injuring at least three people and destroying several cabins and trees at one of the park's most popular lodging areas, officials said.
The rock slide was the second in two days in the area called Curry Village, a lodging and retail area defined by dramatic, sheer cliffs.
“We were awakened at 7 to what sounded like thunder and what felt like the Earth crumbling apart,” said Deanne Maschmeyer, 41, of Monterey, who was staying in a nearby cabin with her two children. “People were stampeding everywhere and running, running like crazy.”
The slide destroyed five cabins and damaged three others, according to a park statement. Three visitors were treated for minor injuries. In all, 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.
Most of Curry Village remained closed yesterday, but late in the afternoon campers were allowed to move back into the area farthest from the rock fall.
The volume of rocks cascading from the granite face was estimated at about 1,800 cubic yards, or about 180 truck loads, said Vickie Mates, a park spokeswoman.
There was another, smaller rock slide in the same area Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured then.
In 1996, a rock slide in the same area sent as much as 162,000 tons of rock plummeting more than 2,000 feet, killing one visitor and felling 500 trees. A slide in 1999 killed one climber and injured three others while narrowly missing the popular campground.
Tom Trujillo of New Milford, Conn., who was with a group of amateur photographers, saw yesterday's rock slide and ran toward it.
“Trees were crushed all over the place,” Trujillo said. “A couple of kids, fifth-or sixth-graders, were stumbling out of the area. I tried to pick them up, tried to get them out as fast as I could.”
Trujillo said he helped one boy, who had blood on his forehead and down his back, get out and find his mother.
“It was a big mess,” Trujillo said. “Tents were crushed, trees were knocked down, hard cabins were moved out of their positions, with boulders blocking their doorway.”
As the dust settled, shaken teachers and chaperones gathered groups of high school students and tried to get head counts, witnesses said.
Cleanup efforts won't begin until the area is declared stable, rangers stated.
Recent geologic studies have described a series of cracks along the cliff's face and have hypothesized that pressure from water flowing beneath the surface may be a trigger of the slides.
