California: flash floods bury cars and strand tourists in Death Valley

Cars are stuck in mud and debris from flash flooding at The Inn at Death Valley in Death Valley National Park. Photograph: AP

Flash flooding at Death Valley national park closed all roads into the park, buried cars and stranded about 1,000 people on Friday.

A deluge brought “nearly an entire year’s worth of rain in one morning” into the famously hot and dry park in the California desert. At least 1.7in (4.3cm) of rain fell in the Furnace Creek area; the park’s average annual rainfall is 1.9in (4.8cm).