the changes in the weather that made the rivers dry up have not gone away. death valley is still very dry. there are less than of rain in death valley every year. because death valley is so dry all the time, even the dirt that is not covered in salt has become very hard. this means that even though it does not rain often, when it does rain, the dirt cannot absorb all the water quickly enough, and the water can turn into a flash flood (a flood that happens very fast and very violently). in august 2004 there was a very bad flood. the flood damaged many buildings and cars, and killed several people. the flood also destroyed many roads, so nobody could go in or out of death valley. death valley national park had to be closed for a long time while the park rangers fixed everything.