Chunks of granite crashed to the Yosemite Valley floor in a cloud of dust Wednesday, injuring at least three people and destroying several cabins and trees at one of the park’s most popular lodging areas, officials said.

 

The rock slide was the second in two days in the area called Curry Village, a lodging and retail area defined by dramatic, sheer cliffs reports the Associated Press.

 

“We were awakened at 7 to what sounded like thunder and what felt like the Earth crumbling apart,” said Deanne Maschmeyer, 41, of Monterey, who was staying in a nearby cabin with her two children. “People were stampeding everywhere and running, running like crazy. I felt like I was running ahead of a tsunami.”

 

The slide destroyed five cabins and partially damaged at least three others, according to a park statement. Three visitors were treated for minor injuries.

 

The volume of rocks cascading from the granite face was estimated at about 1,800 cubic yards, or about 180 truck loads, said Vickie Mates, a park spokeswoman.

 

There was another, smaller rock slide in the same area Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured then.

 

In 1996, a rock slide in the same area sent as much as 162,000 tons of rock plummeting more than 2,000 feet, killing one visitor and felling 500 trees. A slide in 1999 killed one climber and injured three others while narrowly missing the popular campground.

 

Tom Trujillo, of New Milford, Conn., who was with a group of amateur photographers, saw Wednesday’s rock slide and ran toward it.

 

“Trees were crushed all over the place,” Trujillo said over the sound of a hovering helicopter. “A couple of kids, fifth or sixth-graders, were stumbling out of the area. I tried to pick them up, tried to get them out as fast as I could.”

 

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