View Full Version : Flood day from work! Other CO folks OK?
Holy moly! This is the first time I've ever had work canceled for rain! :-0 I got up to work out this morning and had like 8 texts from the weather service, plus a bunch of emails from work. I'm at home, seeing video on the news of streets I normally drive on washed out. I live far from work and on a hill, so I'm fine. How are other CO folks doing? I hope everyone is safe and their houses are OK!
I have been wondering about all you Colorado folk-waiting to hear back from a friend in Longmont. We have a cabin rented in 10 days outside of Boulder and now I wonder if we will have to cancel our trip:(
Be safe Rosie. And like you asked in your other post........."Is this the new normal?" Kinda scary! And here we are in central Indiana in a drought again.....although some places locally are constantly inundated with rain.
pinkytoe.....hopefully your vacation won't be cancelled! Things are getting pretty crazy, weather-wise.
I hope everyone is okay.
Pinkytoe, it will depend on whether the water went over the road, or washed it out and how much debris. Do you know how close it is to the Fourmile Canyon burn scar? Because that area will be the worst off. Probably by then it will be OK and the weather should be great! As for your friend, if your friend isn't near the St Vrain river, he/she should be OK though possibly basement flooding.
Looking at a satellite map, the rental cabin appears to be about 10 miles east of burn area. Luckily, I haven't sent the balance check yet but will lose the deposit if we cancel.
From what I read, this was an inevitable occurrence just like the one in Co Springs. Oh well...I didn't even think about that when renting.
Things are fine at my home in the Denver burbs, but we have had an INCREDIBLE amount of rain over the last few days. Two days ago my neighborhood had a big hail storm and the news featured road crews removing piles of hail up to 4 or 5 feet deep near my house. It isn't over yet and I hope folks will stay as safe as possible.
Hmmm.....when you mentioned the burn zone, it reminded me.........is all this flooding more a result of all the burned areas being gone?
Areas have gotten several inches of rain in the last couple days. For example, Boulder had 8+ inches by this morning. Normal precip for all of Sept is about 1/2 inch, and normal for the year is roughly 14-16 (snow and rain). There have been many flash floods this summer from local thunderstorms in burn zones but this stuff today is weather, not burn. Every water course in the area is flooding: rivers, drainages, creeks and low-lying areas. With the burn scars it has tended to be just the watershed from that region. It's just a lot of rain in a short amount of time. As for the burn areas, I'm not sure anybody can get to them since all the roads are washed out so the damage may be pretty bad. Right now the news is just reporting on major towns and cities more than small mountain communities. Some not-that-small towns are inaccessible. Maybe one could get from Estes Park to Denver via the continental divide, but access directly to the Front Range is all closed. Lyons residents are trapped in town with no running water or electricity last I heard. They are mountain folk so likely to be prepared for a few days of no services. I hope.
Not at all sure I'll be able to get to work tomorrow. Most of the flash flooding happens along waterways in the mountains but this is more like classic flooding. The experts are afraid of the force of water on the dams up in the mountains and have to release water into the river that runs through my town, so it's now is overtopping some of the bridges in town, and other towns. I think there's at least 2-3 rivers and creeks at flood stage between me and work. But I'm feeling lucky: I found an umbrella on Tuesday morning on the dog walk, my house isn't in danger of flooding and DH isn't stranded on the other side of the river.
I think many places have gotten nearly their entire normal amount of precip for the year in one evening.
I'm hoping Puglogic, Rogar and ZoeGirl are OK-all other CO folks that haven't been here.
Tussiemussies
9-12-13, 9:12pm
Glad you are okay and that you husband is there with you. Sounds really extreme along with some other posters have me tinned. Hope it gets back to normal soon...chris
Yes, Tussie-was thinking it's the mirror of 2012: flooding in CO and fire burning the NJ boardwalk :(
This is why I won't be going to work for a second day in a row. (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/boulder-colorado-flooding-dams-breached-thousands-evacuate-20245978?fb_action_ids=10151897520160460&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UjMN6mzsfg4.like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151897520160460%22%3A202 124813293237%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151897520160460%22%3A%22og .likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%7B%2210151897520160460%22%3A%22.Uj MN6mzsfg4.like%22%7D) I was up in Rocky Mtn National Park on Monday, climbing Longs Peak. Not possible to get there now, all roads on the east side of RMNP are closed or washed out, and the coffee shop we went to after is underwater. People who didn't get out of the canyons are stuck, no idea how long til they can be rescued. Almost unbelievably, most of the cities up and down the Front Range have evacuation areas, including my town and the city I work in. It's like every major flood that has happened historically (Big Thompson in 1976, Ft Collins in 1997, Boulder in the 60s) are happening but all simultaneously. I have never seen anything like this.
It really looks awful -- I have friends who teach at UC Boulder and one of them posted on Facebook that there is a waterfall cascading down the chimney in the middle of her house. thankfully she has insurance but some of her books were damaged (and she works in a pretty esoteric field so that might be a real problem). I hope Zoe Girl is ok -- the last thing she needs is flooding on top of everything else. I seem to remember that she lives on a higher bit of Denver/Aurora, so hopefully she is ok.
Rosie, we're okay up here in the foothills. Luckily, our neighborhood is high enough that the rising water probably couldn't reach us (she says, crossing fingers) Evacuations, roads washed out, and downtown Evergreen is under several feet of fast-moving water in places.
We're watching our dam (built in 1928) and hoping it holds. If it lets loose, it will be a real mess for a lot of people. Making calls to try to find my friends who live down in the flood zone.....
Rosie, we're okay up here in the foothills. Luckily, our neighborhood is high enough that the rising water probably couldn't reach us (she says, crossing fingers) Evacuations, roads washed out, and downtown Evergreen is under several feet of fast-moving water in places.
We're watching our dam (built in 1928) and hoping it holds. If it lets loose, it will be a real mess for a lot of people. Making calls to try to find my friends who live down in the flood zone.....
Glad to hear! I haven't heard much about Evergreen except near Bear Creek is being evac'd, but we're further north so I've been monitoring Boulder and Larimer counties mostly. Are the roads there OK? There seems to be no access to any mountain communities along the Front Range, and not even the sheriffs know how many people may be stranded, missing, etc.
Also hoping ZoeGirl checks in....Aurora had some bad spots. Most of the school districts in affected areas are closed so if she is not in a flood area then she might be at work.
Tussiemussies
9-13-13, 12:47pm
Hi again Rosie,
Saw a picture on the Pad about this and it looked horrible. So glad you are staying home from work...it's so much better to be safe at a time like this...chris
all roads on the east side of RMNP are closed or washed out,
I know this is a historical flood but do you have any sense of how long it takes to clear and open roads once it stops raining? Days? Weeks?
I know this is a historical flood but do you have any sense of how long it takes to clear and open roads once it stops raining? Days? Weeks?
Uncertain. I know that our main road that goes right through the center of town - the same road that eventually ends up at Red Rock Amphitheater -- is washed away in many places -- they'll have to completely rebuild it. And ours is one of dozens if not hundreds. I feel bad for the merchants downtown as they go into the slow season.
There are about 140 sixth-graders up on Mt. Evans at the outdoor school they're trying to get down the hill to safety. Scary on the surface, but their progress is being watched by the Sheriff's dept and it has stopped raining on the mountain. Knowing those kids, I'll bet they're having fun hiking back down.
It's like every major flood that has happened historically (Big Thompson in 1976, Ft Collins in 1997, Boulder in the 60s) are happening but all simultaneously. I have never seen anything like this.
RTR, I was just barely bigger than a toddler, but remember the flood of '65 that roared through Denver, Castle Rock, Pueblo, Greeley, and the eastern plains. I don't know how this one will compare, but that was huge. I am thinking this is a 50 year flood. http://www.assessment.ucar.edu/flood/flood_summaries/06_14_1965.html
I know this is a historical flood but do you have any sense of how long it takes to clear and open roads once it stops raining? Days? Weeks?
At this point I don't think anyone knows. Even major mountain highways in the Boulder area such as Hwy 36 and Hwy 7 could or do have entire sections missing and the banks eroded away. Currently the interstate (I-25) that runs north-south all along the Front Range is closed for >30 miles. They hope to have that open soon, as soon as the water level decreases and the bridges can be assessed for damage. They did not provide an estimate but that would be within days I would think, possibly even today or tomorrow. If it's a matter of just clearing debris off a fairly main road, then yeah a couple of days. If it's a matter of replacing a whole section of road, no idea. I'm sorry, Pinkytoe, but it doesn't look good. Lots of the roads in the areas above Boulder are very likely to be washed out, with unknown length of time to fix. Possibly if your cabin is off a very main road (like 7 or 36) or somehow not with a drainage that flooded badly you can still get there. Since they are rescuing people in those mountain communities at this point by helicopter or military vehicle only, well, it may be time for a backup plan. :( Sorry to bear bad news, and I hope I'm wrong.
RTR, I was just barely bigger than a toddler, but remember the flood of '65 that roared through Denver, Castle Rock, Pueblo, Greeley, and the eastern plains. I don't know how this one will compare, but that was huge. I am thinking this is a 50 year flood. http://www.assessment.ucar.edu/flood/flood_summaries/06_14_1965.html
I wasn't born yet and my family wasn't in CO at that time so that didn't come up in my mind. But yeah, the rain totals and extent look similar. So far, loss of life is much less than that so thank goodness. I don't think anyone knows the extent of property and infrastructure damage yet. So much for the 100 year flood maps, which is what the evac notices are based on....maybe they should say 50 year flood map?
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