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Mudslides Close US 20 And WY 789 In Wind River Canyon

Wyoming Department of Transportation

Portions of US 20 and Wyoming 789 are closed after several mudslides over the weekend in the Wind River Canyon.

Wet weather and storms over Memorial Day Weekend triggered the slides, which damaged roadways, guardrails, railroads, and pipes.

Cody Beers with the Wyoming Department of Transportation says because of the holiday weekend, it was tougher to get the word out via traditional media outlets. So WYDOT got creative.

"And so what we really depended on this weekend was social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. And you know what, it worked really well," says Beers.

Beers says as many as 5,000 cars travel the closed roads every day.

"It is really a choke point in and out of the Big Horn Basin and so when you shut that down, the traffic has got to go somewhere," he says.

For now, traffic is being routed through Yellowstone Park and over the Bighorn Mountains on US 16. No one was injured in the mudslides.

For updated information on when the roads will reopen, you can visit wyoroad.info or call 511.

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