Colorado Flooding by BYTEMITE

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Colorado Flooding

POSTED BY: BYTEMITE
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 01:27
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Thursday, September 12, 2013 9:43 AM

Looking for safety report from Colorado browncoats, and speculations about whether the floods are in any way connected to the wildfires last year.

Hope people are okay.

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Friday, September 13, 2013 1:01 PM

BYTEMITE

I am assuming the lack of response here indicates even more of a serious situation than is even readily apparent.

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Friday, September 13, 2013 6:52 PM

CANTTAKESKY

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324576304579070993584463
288.html

I think most of mainstream media thinks the wildfire scars have made the flooding worse than it could have been.

-----

Disobedience is not an issue if obedience is not the goal.

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Friday, September 13, 2013 7:17 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

There aren't many other Coloradoans on this site, but I'm doing okay. I sort of live on a hill and I'm not near any rivers. The state as a whole, though, is in bad shape. What I'm seeing on the news is only the worst of it, like Boulder Creek and the St. Vrain river, but there isn't a river in central or northern Colorado that isn't flooding as far as I can tell. The Poudre in Fort Collins, the Big Thompson in Estes Park and Loveland, Ralston Creek in Arvada, and countless other bodies of water have overflowed their banks. By miles. Entire sections of highway up the mountains are simply gone. Every major school district is shut down, either because they're flooded or too many roads are closed for them to function. Same with universities. Phone communication has been knocked out in several cities. Rescue helicopters have been flying over my house, probably towards Lyons and Estes Park, which have between zero and one roadway out of them.
The sun came out today, though. Unfortunately, that's likely to be a temporary condition and it might rain again on Sunday.
As to any relation to wildfires... well,I don't know, but average annual rainfall for the state is around 15" and there are areas that got that much in the last two days, and most other areas got close to 2/3 that amount. It's a semi-arid state, and it's just not built for that much water to come through it. The ground got saturated and the rivers swelled and burst. A lot of the soil is clay, which can't be helping the mudslides and rockslides in the mountains. Roads and bridges are sliding away all over the place in a similar manner. Trees are halfway submerged or torn out of the ground. Nothing could have really stopped that.
So yeah, it's bad. I'm not personally trapped in my city, but it will certainly be difficult to get farther than 10 to 30 miles in any given direction for the foreseeable future. I assume repairing the interstates will be the first priority, but that could easily take months.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Friday, September 13, 2013 9:10 PM

BYTEMITE

Hey PhoenixRose, good to hear from you. Glad you're not in the thick of things.

Shame about the damages and the roads... I wonder if there will be federal funding supplied to help infrastructure repairs. The budgets have been tight recently from what I hear.

I know of one more person in Colorado. Pretty sure Mal4Prez lives somewhere near Boulder, which is one of the nasty spots. Here's hoping she's okay - and also that she gets internet access soon if she doesn't have it.

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Saturday, September 14, 2013 4:19 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Federal funds have already been requested and granted for several counties with the worst flooding. I want to say Boulder, Larimer, Arapahoe, and Weld counties have all been declared federal disaster areas and will receive federal funds. I'm not saying it will cover everything, because it won't, but it will help.
As far as I know there's no phones or internet in Boulder, Estes Park, or Lyons. I'm not even sure there's power to the majority of the area. If Mal4Prez is up there, she's probably not going to be in touch for a few more days.
The good news is that fatalities are actually quite low. When the Big Thompson river flooded in 1976, nearly 150 people died. Flooding of (pretty literally) every river in the state in 2013, and confirmed deaths so far are in the single digits. So a lot of stuff is being destroyed, but far more people are safe and alive. Makes me fairly confident that most of us will come through just fine, since the flash floods are the real danger and those are less of a threat than they were yesterday. Unfortunately, quite a few people will come through it and be nigh-homeless for a time, since there are whole houses under water, but at least they'll come through it.

The first aerial shots were taken today once the skies cleared. It's completely mind-boggling stuff. I was watching news footage of what was supposedly part of my own town and didn't even recognize it. I think it was the southeast corner, judging by the orientation of the mountains, but I couldn't actually identify anything I was seeing because most of it was water with some buildings poking out. The roads were hidden or missing, as were any other land features.
So, definitely going to take time... probably years... of cleanup. The worst/weirdest part is that we're not even the only place being hit with storms and potential flooding right now. I watched some of the weather channel coverage of the floods, but they were also talking about New York and the Gulf Coast being threatened by heavy rain storms and the occasional flood watch.
You know, I'll be really surprised if no one starts talking about the apocalypse. This sort of thing must just be a boon to people who love predicting doomsday.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Saturday, September 14, 2013 4:19 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Terrifying space monkeys double post

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Saturday, September 14, 2013 9:24 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Well, I for one am glad to see that terrifying space monkey and know she's okay. I haven't heard much--been avoiding the news except on the internet for quite some time now and tend to shy away from the details, they sadden me so.

And yes, fires ALWAYS make the next season's flooding worse, as So. Ca.!

I hope things settle down and my heart goes out to those involved...and now I'm worried about Mal4, too...

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Saturday, September 14, 2013 1:59 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Hmmmm, Mal4 hasn't been around since Sept. 1 apparently...messaged her, hope she's okay. We got any other members out that way?

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Sunday, September 15, 2013 1:13 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Hundreds missing. Wow.

Certainly power is out for many. Internet access may be limited. I'm hoping lack of response is simply a product of power outages, or broken telephone or cable lines.

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Sunday, September 15, 2013 4:18 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Mal4's okay--she lives in NY, it's her family in CO, and they're okay too. She's just been busy with school, and FFF has been a "big yawn lately". Kinda been finding it that way myself, and having fun on the dog carting sites, so I haven't been around much either. She says she'll come back up for air by Winter break, so she's accounted for, thank goodness. My heart goes out to those people, big time!

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Sunday, September 15, 2013 6:07 PM

SAVEWASH

Now I am learning about scary.

My sister lives near Boulder and my aunt lives in Longmont. Both are safe (as are their families) and their homes are intact, but they're both floored by the amount of damage all around them. My aunt sent me a link to an article that calls this a thousand-year flood, as in once in a thousand years. They can't go anywhere since most of the roads are either washed out or unstable; even the emergency vehicles are having trouble getting around. The whole thing is mind-boggling.

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Sunday, September 15, 2013 7:21 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Glad that Mal4's family is okay.

Quote:
Originally posted by SAVEWASH:
My aunt sent me a link to an article that calls this a thousand-year flood

Damn, I was hearing 500-year flood, but I can easily believe it's 1000-year. Glad to hear your family is also okay.

Apparently, the national guard has told Estes Park residents that if they have anywhere else to go, they need to go there. As far as I know, they haven't used the actual phrase "Abandon your homes for the time being" but that seems to be what they're getting at. There's no power, no water lines, and no reliable food supply, and there probably won't be for some time. Basically, it will be difficult to survive winter up there. They've started airlifting people out of the area, and are saying that the last airlift rescue this size they had was Katrina. I'm seriously doubting those mountain towns will ever be the same. Don't even know if the state as a whole will be the same. At this point I doubt I could even guesstimate how many billions of dollars in damage has been done.
Oh, and it rained again today. I think we've probably now exceeded our annual rainfall in the space of a week.
Scattered showers forecasted through Wednesday.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Sunday, September 15, 2013 9:54 PM

SAVEWASH

Now I am learning about scary.

Here's the link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2013/09/12/colorado-deluge-co
uld-be-classified-as-a-1000-year-event/

It's hard to process the extent of the damage there.

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Monday, September 16, 2013 2:24 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Glad, no, more than glad you're okay.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
There aren't many other Coloradoans on this site, but I'm doing okay. I sort of live on a hill and I'm not near any rivers. The state as a whole, though, is in bad shape. What I'm seeing on the news is only the worst of it, like Boulder Creek and the St. Vrain river, but there isn't a river in central or northern Colorado that isn't flooding as far as I can tell. The Poudre in Fort Collins, the Big Thompson in Estes Park and Loveland, Ralston Creek in Arvada, and countless other bodies of water have overflowed their banks. By miles. Entire sections of highway up the mountains are simply gone. Every major school district is shut down, either because they're flooded or too many roads are closed for them to function. Same with universities. Phone communication has been knocked out in several cities. Rescue helicopters have been flying over my house, probably towards Lyons and Estes Park, which have between zero and one roadway out of them.
The sun came out today, though. Unfortunately, that's likely to be a temporary condition and it might rain again on Sunday.
As to any relation to wildfires... well,I don't know, but average annual rainfall for the state is around 15" and there are areas that got that much in the last two days, and most other areas got close to 2/3 that amount. It's a semi-arid state, and it's just not built for that much water to come through it. The ground got saturated and the rivers swelled and burst. A lot of the soil is clay, which can't be helping the mudslides and rockslides in the mountains. Roads and bridges are sliding away all over the place in a similar manner. Trees are halfway submerged or torn out of the ground. Nothing could have really stopped that.
So yeah, it's bad. I'm not personally trapped in my city, but it will certainly be difficult to get farther than 10 to 30 miles in any given direction for the foreseeable future. I assume repairing the interstates will be the first priority, but that could easily take months.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Monday, September 16, 2013 2:31 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

I do believe I heard something to that effect, that the wildfires did have some bearing on the floods. It kind of makes sense since much of the forest has been burned away and there's little-to-no buffer from the torrential rains. Imagine, dams have overflowed. That would definitely affect the landscape.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Looking for safety report from Colorado browncoats, and speculations about whether the floods are in any way connected to the wildfires last year.

Hope people are okay.

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Monday, September 16, 2013 2:33 AM

SHINYGOODGUY

Same here Niki, my heart and good thoughts go out to those folk in Colorado.

SGG

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Well, I for one am glad to see that terrifying space monkey and know she's okay. I haven't heard much--been avoiding the news except on the internet for quite some time now and tend to shy away from the details, they sadden me so.

And yes, fires ALWAYS make the next season's flooding worse, as So. Ca.!

I hope things settle down and my heart goes out to those involved...and now I'm worried about Mal4, too...

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Monday, September 16, 2013 7:31 AM

MAL4PREZ

Thanks for the concern guys. It's nice to be thought of. :)

My parents were out of town for most of this. They got back last night and said their neighborhood is OK, except one sinkhole opened and swallowed a driveway. I can imagine what Manitou Springs looks like now though. I've seen it flood in spring runoff. What a mess, with all that red mud!

To folks who live there: Vermont got hammered by flooding from TS Irene a few years back, with roads and covered bridges and lots of homes and businesses washed away and the familiar landscape all torn up. It was heart breaking, but I was back up there this summer and it's largely recovered. No matter how bad it looks now, you'll get your nice CO valleys and creeks back.

Just stay safe!

*---------------------------------------*
The French Revolution would have never happened if Marie Antoinette had just given every peasant an iPhone.

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Monday, September 16, 2013 11:16 AM

BYTEMITE

Good to hear from you (also I am apparently terrible at remembering things whoops).

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Monday, September 16, 2013 11:19 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Good to see you, Mal4, and glad your family's okay.

Back in '81 we experienced some of that. NOTHING like on that scale, but we've got so many hills that flooding can make an awful mess. On our street, a mudslide came roaring down the hill, swept our VW bus into the next-door-neighbor's Mercedes and landed both of them up on his lawn, took down two homes above us (one lady died), filled the garage of one home below to the ceiling with mud and debris, and stranded us all for about two days. The memories of those two days are etched firmly in my mind and will never go away. I think memories of those kinds of things stick with everyone, to refer back to when they hear about stuff like what's happening now.

All of Marin was hurting because a big slide on 101 took out our only freeway and only access to the Golden Gate, and flooding further North cut 101 off from that direction.

Poor Inverness took it worst in that way; they're out on Pt. Reyes and only connected to the continent by a narrow causeway. They were completely cut off for a couple of weeks, no power, so the entire community got together and had huge get-togethers to eat all the food in the markets before it spoiled. Great sense of community, and they're tough folk out there, but we felt for them!

None of what happened to us held a candle to what CO is going through, but we got just enough of a taste of it that my heart aches for them.

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Saturday, September 21, 2013 6:34 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

Very sad to see this, glad to hear people are safe

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Monday, October 7, 2013 9:25 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Welcome Metallic! Don't be down here, tho' unless you can "take the heat"; this forum gets pretty nasty.

From what I can find, FEMA goes right on, hampered but active:

Quote:
DENVER - Despite the federal government shutdown, FEMA says it will continue to help with Colorado flood recovery.

FEMA spokesperson Dan Watson told 7NEWS Reporter Lindsey Sablan there will be some cuts made to personnel, but it will not have an impact on flood recovery.

In an email, Watson wrote: "FEMA remains committed to supporting disaster survivors. Our ongoing response operations, such as the individual assistance being provided to survivors of the flooding in Colorado, will not be impacted directly by a government shutdown. FEMA's response to disasters and emergencies is funded by the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which would not initially be affected by a funding lapse for annual appropriations."

The DRF is a standing fund that continues on from one fiscal year to the next, so a lapse in annual funding doesn't have an immediate impact. Right now, there are more than 1,000 FEMA staff, many known as reservists, who are responding to flood recovery in Colorado. Watson said that number would not decrease due to a shutdown. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/september-flooding/fema-flood-
relief-will-continue-in-event-government-shutdown]

Apparently the state is picking up the cost of the National Guard in the interim, so they'll keep on working, too:

Quote:
Now that the U.S government has officially shut down, Colorado will be providing the funding the National Guard members who continue to aid in flood relief efforts across the state, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) announced Tuesday.

"The state is going to pay the costs," Hickenlooper said in a Tuesday press conference. Under the shutdown, an estimated 800,000 workers could be furloughed, but the state is using money from its emergency relief fund to cover the National Guard costs until the government opens back up again.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/colorado-flood-government-shu
tdown_n_4024904.html

FEMA has put out $32 million so far to those poor people. My sympathies to your friend, it's awful when stuff like that happens!

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Tuesday, October 8, 2013 1:27 AM

JONGSSTRAW

As long as the pot crop wasn't destroyed everything will be just fine.

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