Rebuilding Mount Rainier National Park

The good news is that the damage estimate following the historic November 2006 flood at Mount Rainier National Park has been lowered to $27.9 million.

There remains, however, an estimated $3.7 million to $7.9 million of work left to be done.

Those are some of the figures in a newly released report updating the status of the park’s efforts to recover from the flood.

“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress. That includes not only the park staff, but the volunteers, concessionaires, contractors and everyone else who made it happen,’’ said acting superintendent Randy King as he talked about the report.

Indeed, a lot has happened since 17.9 inches of rain fell in 36 hours over Nov. 6-7, 2006. Floods and landslides in all four corners of the park forced an unprecedented six-month closure.

But there’s still plenty of work to be done.