Largely wooded Upper Pines is a 238-site campground near Curry Village.
Advertisement
Two minors camping at Yosemite National Park were killed in their sleep on Friday when a fallen oak tree limb fell on their tent.
The National Park Service said the Tuolumne Meadows Campground will be closed from noon on August 17th to noon on August 21st after dead animals were tested and found to be carrying plague.
“This is of course a disgusting tragedy, but right now there’s nothing standing out about why this particular limb fell”, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.
Set within the Sierra Nevada mountains, the 1,200 square mile national park is one of America’s most popular tourist attractions.
California is parched as the state enters the fourth year of drought and temperatures in the park have been hovering in the 80’s and 90’s over the last month, causing dry conditions. All other campgrounds and facilities will remain open.
According to California health officials, the current risk of human exposure to the plague is low and can be treated with antibiotics.
That child is recovering, and no other members of the camping party have reported any related symptoms.
The branch hit a tent where two minors were sleeping, killing them. The park reopened Crane Flat on Friday after treating that campground.
The park is closing another campground, Tuolumne Meadows, for five days next week to treat rodent burrows after finding two dead squirrels infected with the plague.
A similar accident occurred in 1992, when an oak branch landed on a tour bus, injuring seven people. It nearly sounded like a gunshot when it came down.
Advertisement
There’s precedent for this kind of calamity, such as in 2012, when a concessions employee died after a falling limb struck his cabin, Gediman said.
