Blocked culvert floods Sun Road section

A culvert that got plugged and caused a mountain stream to overlow a roadside ditch near Apgar forced Glacier National Park officials to close access to most of the Sun Road on Saturday, May 10.

“There was lots of snowmelt and debris,” Glacier Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said. “It filled a culvert, and we just had a lot of water and debris.”

Mud, rocks and woody debris covered parts of the Sun Road about two miles beyond the foot of Lake McDonald.  

The road was closed at about 8 a.m. and the cleanup took most of the day, with the road reopening at about 4:30 p.m.

Germann said the rainy weather that day kept many visitors away, and it wasn’t as busy as it could have been on a fair-weather weekend day.