Hundreds told to evacuate as tropical storm remnants cause Colorado mountain streams to flood
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Remnants of a tropical storm caused flooding in parts of the Southwest on Saturday and prompted hundreds of evacuations in southwestern Colorado as mountain streams raced over their banks and crews scrambled to protect properties with sandbags.
The hardest-hit areas included Vallecito Creek, where about 400 homes were under evacuation orders north of a reservoir 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the small tourist city of Durango.
The Upper Pine River Fire Protection District urged people to stay off bridges and drift trees down. The high school in nearby Bayfield opened to accept evacuees.
Rising floodwaters have overwhelmed flood control systems built after the floods occurred almost 20 years ago. Water was expected to peak Saturday night, and after a lull on Sunday, heavier rain was expected on Monday and Tuesday.
After telling customers to leave, Debby McCall, general manager of Blue Spruce RV Park & Cabins, was waiting to hear whether authorities would tell her to leave, too.
“I’ve never seen this much water flowing. It’s absolutely crazy,” said McCall, a lifelong resident who has lived at the trailer park for 16 years.
Crews sandbagged the park to protect septic systems from flooding in Vallecito Creek.
“I see whirlpools floating in the river,” McCall said. “There is definitely a state of emergency here.”
McCall said the good news is that water levels downstream of the Vallecito Reservoir are low after months of drought and appear to have enough room to handle the floodwaters.
Two months ago, dry weather fueled wildfires in Western Colorado. They are included one of the biggest The incident that led to the evacuation of a prison in state history.
Roads and basements were also flooded in southern Utah on Saturday; firefighters here in Washington City rescued a person and his dog from a car caught in floodwater.
The rain came through the ruins Tropical Storm PriscillaOn Thursday, it began moving inland through California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
Yellow cottonwood trees at the height of autumn provided a dramatic backdrop to Colorado floodwaters. Meanwhile, the humidity brought another sign of the changing seasons: Snow is expected at higher altitudes in the next few days.
