Today, Colorado is all wet. Literally. Metro Denver gets about 12-13" of precipitation in a typical year. Now, many communities in the area have gotten most of their annual precipitation allotment in about forty-eight hours.
Rain measurements from the overnight Colorado storm that has caused flash floods and flooding according to the National Weather Service at 8:54 a.m. include:
Boulder — 9 to 12 inches
Firestone — 4.80 inches
Frederick — 7.19 inches
Lafayette — 3.50 inches
Loveland — 4.12 inches
Lyons — 3.5 inches
Thornton — 5.37 inches
Ward — 6.16 inches[UPDATE at 2:20 p.m. - Denver police have evacuated an area between 11th Avenue and Colfax Avenue from Verbena Street to Xanthia Street in a part of Denver between the Stapleton and Lowry neighborhoods due to flooding. The Cherry Creek trail and Platte River trail are also underwater for much of their extent within Denver. Evacuations also in Commerce City and in Longmont. Village East Elementary School in Greenwood Village was evacuated.]
Flash flood watches and warnings apply to most of the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area and Larimer and Weld counties. Schools are closed in Boulder County, Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs) and parts of Adams County.
Park Hill was the Land of Lakes as I made my way to work this morning (although the success of recent drainage improvements in the City Park area was evident). The opposing counsel in a hearing I appeared at this morning was trapped in her home in Coal Creek by flood waters and had to appear by telephone. One of the lawyers in the case behind me was greatly delayed getting to court by detours forced by flooded roads. I merely had a drenched suit coat. My assistant, who bikes to work, is soaked.
Roads have been closed due to flooding in Aurora and Commerce City and some Aurora parks are almost entirely underwater. The Community College of Aurora is closed.
Mud slides and floods have closed roads all over Larimer County, in some cases trapping people in flooded homes while weather has been too extreme for helicopters to rescue them. The Meadow Lake Dam breached in rural Larimer County near Pinewood Springs and rescue efforts are underway there.
In Lyons, a sewage treatment plant has breached, sending turds into flooded streets, and fresh water is not available. Highway 36 was completed destroyed by floods at Longmont Dam Road and the road is closed from Lyons to Boulder. Thirty-five homes were evacuated in Fredrick and Firestone (many from a trailer park).
In Broomfield, a road collapsed, three cars were submerged and swept away by flood waters and three motorists had to be rescued from flood waters.
The University of Colorado at Boulder and Naropa University are closed due to flooding, parts of the campus were evacuated, and the courts are closed there. A wall of water in a canyon in Boulder County trapped a fire fighter in a tree this morning.
Three people are confirmed dead in flooding. One in a collapsed home in Jamestown, one carried away by flooding and found on the 200 block of Linden Drive in Boulder. And, one body was found on the streets of Colorado Springs near I-25 and South Nevada Street. The Boulder Sheriff has stated that there may be more victims. Jamestown in Boulder County and Four Mile Canyon were ordered evacuated.
1 comment:
Another update. There are lots of road closures in my neighborhood:
"Standing water forced 56th Avenue to close between Quebec to Havana streets. Central Park Boulevard is also closed from 49th Avenue to I-70.
Only one lane of eastbound Interstate 70 is open from Quebec Street to Peoria Street.
Northfield Boulevard is also closed from Quebec Street to Central Park Boulevard.
Denver Public Works crews are working to clear standing water at 14th Avenue and Jasmine Street, according to spokeswoman Emily Williams.
Crews are also working to clear debris and remove water along eastbound Martin Luther King Boulevard at Monaco Parkway and at Quebec Street and 11th Avenue."
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