Boulder Flooding

[britcars]

If I remember right, Curtis lives just a short distance from Boulder and Colorado Springs (Larry Barnes) is a bit further away.
Has anyone heard how they've "weathered" the heavy rains and flooding?
Curtis and Larry.........are you OK?

[Moderator]

Lisa and I are safe at home in Longmont's old downtown. We live uphill and North from the path of the St Vrain river, but it's only five or six blocks away. A couple years ago, Longmont extended our street across the river. They built a lot of bike trails and did a lot of landscaping to make a nice park: "The St Vrain Greenway". That's going to require a lot of clean-up!

This video will take you on a helicopter ride over the flooded area from West to East. At the beginning, you'll see the old semi-industrial part of town (Boston Avenue, etc.) including the Left Hand brewery. At about the halfway mark, the commentary points out the new bridge on our street (Martin Street), half a mile from our house. After that, the helicopter continues up through some flooded farmland. Much of that is "open space" land that the city owns and leases back to farmers or that's held in conservation easements. We rode our bicycles all through that area last Sunday. The rain started early Monday afternoon. The sweet corn looked ready to harvest, and now it's under water.

<object width="600" height="450"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/8DROpPDNDpY?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/8DROpPDNDpY?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="450" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

This second, shorter video starts at the East and works back toward Main Street. It shows the washed out bridge along County Road 1 and also how Left Hand creek feeds into the St Vrain. You can also briefly see Longmont's wonderful old sugar mill. (This area once had a lot of sugar beet farming.)

<object width="600" height="450"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/1JN8aGn4T5g?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/1JN8aGn4T5g?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="450" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Boulder is about twenty-five minutes SW of Longmont, nestled up against the foothills whereas we're ~7 miles out onto the high plains with a great view of Longs Peak mountain.

[britcars]

Thanks for the update Curtis.  Glad to hear that you folks are OK.  Terrible amount of damage.  A lot of families lives have been uprooted and perhaps changed forever.

[BWA]

Up here in Southern Alberta in June we had major flooding.  Like you Curtis I count my self fortunate that I live up and away from the river.  Stay safe.

Cheers
Byron

[lars49]

I am OK - the flooding in Colorado Springs was in the SW side of town where the Waldo Canyon fire was last year.  I am 95 feet above the flood plain on a knoll so if I get flooded out watch out Amarillo!    

I recorded a little over 3.5" of rain at my house Thursday and Friday.  I have heard reports of over 13" in the Boulder area.  The problem of course is when it rains in the mountains it all funnels to the streams and the folks down stream really get hit.  

I was checking the flood map this morning with respect to the Clive Cussler museum which is one of the planned events for British V8 2014.  It is in a flooded area in Arvada.  I plan on sending a email to them to see if they sustained any damage.

I am feeling a bit hexed, the fire got one of the venues last year and the flood may have gotten another.   I am now waiting on an earthquake.

[kstevusa]

Is Al Wulf in the flood area?   hope his family is OK.   LMK

[Moderator]

I think Al and Patty should be okay - their house is on a hill. (They live in Wheat Ridge, which is a close suburb to the North of Denver.)

Lisa and I went out Saturday afternoon and were amazed the extent to which the flood waters had receded... but now (at lunchtime on Sunday) the rain has returned and it's just pouring and pouring, again. One thing about Colorado - at least the Front Range area - a long soaking rain is unusual here.  We get more snow than rain.  A whole lot of people here don't own raincoats or umbrellas. More importantly, lots of roofs don't have gutters so building damage might occur in unexpected ways.

[rficalora]

Glad to hear you & Lisa are ok Curtis!

[MGBV8]

Wow, that's a lot of water!

[MrNick]

Glad to hear my fellow Coloradans are doing okay.

[lars49]

I contacted the Clive Cussler Museum and they were not flooded.  They asked me to get back in touch as we get closer to the meet to make sure that everything will be in place for our visit.

[AL WULF]

Patty & I haven't had any flooding since we live way up the hill from Clear Creek.  We did have some damage from hail on Monday, September 9th.  Since July 13th we have had a little over 10 inches of rain and our average is between 16 and 18" for the year.  On July 13th we had 4 inches and then 6 more after Monday September 9th.

Thanks for thinking of us Kelly.  Looking forward to seeing you in Colorado Springs next July.

Take care,

Al

[kstevusa]

Good to Hear  Al & Patty , "alls well".  Hope the hail was moderate and little damage.  pics I see on news looks like snow in depth  :-)

[AL WULF]

The hail was moderate at our house but a little was south west of us they used snow removal equipment to clear the streets.