Colorado Flooding

[BusaDave9]

Pete asked me how I was doing here so I thought I would start a thread on the flooding here in Colorado. I came out fine. The worst flooding hit Boulder and west of there.
They say so many roads were wiped out that some homeowners may not bet to their homes for a year. There were lots of homes destroyed.

I had to go out of town to Denver on business. While I was there my hometown, Durango was hit with another storm. I saw it on the internet from my hotel room. Durango got hit with 3 inches of rain, all at once.
(the rest of the pictures are from Durango, my home town)

The Durango Herald 09/19/2013 | Durangoans recount fury of storm

This is supposed to be a paved county road north of Durango. It was closed off as they tried to reopen it.
​

Highway 550 north of town was blocked because of water and mud that ran into the highway.

I asked a friend to check on my house and he said it was fine.
When I got back I found out that we, on the south side of town wasn't hit nearly as hard as those on the north side. As a matter of fact, my house got more rain before I left.

My home turned out just fine. That was very surprising after seeing the pictures on the internet about the flood here in Durango. The problem with the floods here in the more mountainous areas is not the standing water. Most water quickly flows away. The real problem is the mountainsides that come rushing down with mud and water over homes and roads.

I live a few miles south of town. The north end of town was the hardest hit. Like most weather in the mountains, it always seems very localized.

 

[Torxhead]

Thanks for sending in those pics Dave, it really says a lot. My local news did not go into any detail of the hardest hit areas.

 

[BusaDave9]

This is near Boulder

 

[Purple77CJ7]

I live in Loveland were the Big Thompson river comes through. I lived here when it flooded in 1976. More people were killed then, and it was mainly the Big Thompson drainage. This time it was more wide spread, from Chyenne to Colorado Springs. There is a lot more damage and a much bigger area than before. So far not as many deaths as before. A lot of people were evacuated and nobody knows when they may get to go home. It took I think 4 years to rebuild the roads before and it is much worse.

 

[BajaEdition]

WOW

glad you are ok

really need to find a good place to donate to those who are not

 

[BusaDave9]

Yes, I'm okay. Thanks Jim. But when will it end? Southwest Colorado is supposed to be dry.
I was out in my truck today and it started hailing. No rain just walnut sized hail. I was afraid it would damage my truck so I pulled into someones driveway under a big tree. He looked out his window and gave me a friendly wave. I looked at the ground and it was dry except for the hail. I have never seen hail without rain. This went on for 15 minutes. Then the hail stopped and the rain came pouring down. I headed back to my home.

I live a few miles out of Durango. There is a drainage ditch under my driveway but it clogged up. The ditch was full of water and it was pouring over my driveway. There was lots of water so I shifted my pickup into 4WD. I have a gravel driveway and this water was washing it away.

I also have another drainage pipe under my driveway next to my detached garage but it too was clogged. There was lots of mud, water and rocks washing over my driveway.

I don't have flood insurance. When I moved here I didn't think I would need it. How could floodwaters reach my home? Im from the midwest. Floods there are staning water. Here in the mountains a flood is the mountainside or hillside coming down onto your home.

I can have the driveway repaired but I hope it doesn't get any worse.

 

[Old Dog]

Glad to hear your ok.
I feel for the people that got flooded, looks like it's going to be a long time before it gets back to normal.

 

[BusaDave9]

Had 3 thunderstorms today. My house is okay. Just had a bunch of mud run down my driveway. There was mud in my garage.

There is a drainage pipe that is supposed to prevent water from running down my driveway. Oh, and that's hail in front of my garage. It looks like snow.
I can clean the mud out of my garage. There are others that are so much worse off than me.

That's a deep ditch by the road but the water plugged the drainage pipe and water ran over my driveway. The water rushing down my driveway eroded channels one foot deep in my driveway.

I took the above pictures after the rain was done. It was worse when it was raining heavily.

 

[susie]

I am hoping all of the flooding has stopped and clean up and repairs are almost complete... maybe?

 

[BusaDave9]

I am hoping all of the flooding has stopped and clean up and repairs are almost complete... maybe?

The floods have stopped. My driveway is still rutted and it's hazardous getting my cycle in and out but I'll get it fixed by winter. Luckily we weren't hit as hard as other areas in Colorado. But thanks

 

[0822]

I am glad to see and hear you are OK