Boulder Flood

[InsideOut]

At our last house, up until 2/13 we had to carry flood insurance as a requirement of our loan. We were considered to be in a 100-yr flood zone. The curious thing was that there were four houses on our block that it pretained to. Evidentally, we were the "low spot" on the city block between two small lakes several miles apart. It cost $100 per month and we did not know about this until a couple of days before our closing on the house. We were kinda "stuck". No biggie - but at $1200 a year on top of our regular homeowners insurance, it was a bit of a hit.

Shari

[TG Twinkie]

I had a home near Conifer,CO. I had assumed a VA loan. This home is at 9,000' elevation. Everything was down hill from the location. The only thing above the home was the sky. When I was told the home had to be covered by Flood Insurance. I explained that if this home was flooded, Denver, CO would be 4,000' under water. I was still required to have flood insurance.
And by the way. Flood Insurance does not cover a pipe breaking in the home, causing flooding.

[Olie]

Originally Posted by Aerowood

TG, the South Platte surge is expected to hit Nebraska today or tomorrow, flood warning out for Julesburg Co.

I was wondering where all the water was going. Is Nebraska in for it? It looks like all the streams on the front range dump into the
South Platt

[Gene]

North of the Palmer Divide, between Denver and Colorado Springs, the creeks all end up as part of the South Platte. South of the Divide, water goes to the Arkansas R.

Gene

[TG Twinkie]

Some parts of Nebraska will be affected by the South Platte River flooding. At least until it meets up with the North Platte River and becomes the Platte River.
We live 1 mile north of the North Platte River. Which enters the Nebraska panhandle just east of Torrington, WY. There is not a whole lot of water in the North Platte at this time.

[Thalweg]

Predicting about a foot into flood stage at North Platte.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, we were once under the 100 year flood threat scam here for a few years. FEMA, the banks, and the insurance companies were all in this scam as far as I'm concerned. Here is how it worked. You were offered a flood insurance plan for example $500.00 per year. And this had to be paid by a certain date. The day after that final date would be the first day that you would be told if your house was actually in this flood area. Now if your house was in the flood area and you did not buy the flood insurance, it was now double. $1,000.00 per year. If you paid in advance and later found out that your house was not in the flood area, too bad, you can't cancel and get your money back. If your house was paid for, you could take your chances, but if your house was financed you were forced to buy this insurance. So pay in advance $500.00 per year, or pay after the final date and pay $1,000.00 per year, or let the bank do it for you and pay about $2,000.00 per year.

But wait; There's even more. We were given maps which had a red area of possible flood areas. The bordering streets were purposely not named on these maps. But I knew this area well enough to tell where most of the borders were. Ironically all of the areas in red were all middle class neighborhoods. I could clearly see that the poorest areas were not included. I could also see a small area of where the rich lived was not in the red area. All of these neighborhoods are on flat land with only a few feet of elevation difference. I ended up not being in the actual red zone, but my parent's home, only a few blocks away was. The insurance had to be paid until they were able to raise the walls on the Los Angeles concrete river which took several years. The flood was to come from the Los Angeles river which was about twenty miles away. Even though we are only a few blocks away from the San Gabriel river, it wasn't a problem.

[Ag&Au]

There is something interesting (at least to me) that I have noticed both in person locally and on TV coverage. Now that the rivers around here, although still running very high, have settled down, there are many instances where they have left their previous course and established new beds that if left alone I'm sure will become permanent. (at least until the next flood) I am sure that this is a common natural phenomenon in flooding. However it does not fit well in established human occupied areas. I am curious to see how these things are handled by those that handled such things.

Ken

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, we were once under the 100 year flood threat scam here for a few years. FEMA, the banks, and the insurance companies were all in this scam as far as I'm concerned. Here is how it worked. You were offered a flood insurance plan for example $500.00 per year.

Now, now. You know that when the Government does it, it's not a scam, because scams are illegal, and the Government never does anything illegal! They can't, because they decide what's legal and what's not.

The word you're looking for is "conspiracy," not "scam."

[Kota]

I flew in from the north east the other day. It looked like the south platte was within its banks until we got south west of Sterling CO. The river progressively spreads out into the farmland and communities as you approach Denver.

[wheelerimage]

I went up to Estes park to sell my photography at an art festival. I arrived on Monday the 9 th. nonstop rain I was camped at aspenglen campground They told me to evacuate the campground on Thursday so I spent the night at the fairgrounds. I got out on Friday morning via the trail ridge pass. That was the only road left

I shot this pic of main st on Thursday as the Thompson river started to take over. Notice the fishing guide fishing main st

[Phoenix]

Obviously, "making lemonade"... Thanks for sharing photo!

[wheelerimage]

I thought I was out of it. Last night I had a hail storm while camped above Durango It punctured the plastic tail light bezels on my 65 globetrotter. The ultimate bad camping trip

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by wheelerimage

The ultimate bad camping trip

Clever way to avoid "instant karma." By saying that nothing worse could have happened, you avoid the stigma of asking what worse could have happened. Because asking what worse could have happened is a virtual guarantee that you'd find out!

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by wheelerimage

I thought I was out of it. Last night I had a hail storm while camped above Durango It punctured the plastic tail light bezels on my 65 globetrotter. The ultimate bad camping trip

I am amazed that hail that size could damage anything except perhaps tissue paper. Was the wind blowing very strongly?



Ken

[KCN]

I spent yesterday volunteering with a group doing some flood cleanup in a couple of the small towns that were way up in the mountains above Lyons and Boulder but sustained major damage. So much work to be done... When you see the damage done, you realize how rocky our "Rocky Mountain" soil really is and how it behaves when exposed to an extreme moisture event. All roads should be open by Thanksgiving, but the cleanup has only begun.

The storm that caused this was without precedent in terms of recorded weather (or predictable weather) - it has been called a 1000 year storm/flood, and also a "biblical" flood.

The folks in Raymond and Riverside threw a big thank-you potluck for all us volunteers - it was the first outside help they'd had and they were so grateful. Many older folks living in these communities simply can't move the heavy debris, and many are out of the homes they've lived in for many, many years, staying with friends in the community that still have solid homes.

I'm not sure if the Airstream in the photo landed in it's current position or was parked there. It looks a LOT better than the 'SOB' trailers I saw crushed... That picture is in the Apple Valley area of Lyons, which was one area hit the hardest by the flood. The mountains above Lyons soar to more than 14,000 feet (Long's Peak), and as the rain fell for a week, water came cascading down from that height, creating rivers and streams where none existed previously, swelling others to rocky torrents. By the time all that water hit Lyons, it was carrying massive boulder and trees.

Roads and bridges crumbled, even as far away as my house, which is 20 miles east of Lyons. My irrigation cooperative just had an emergency meeting so we could vote to borrow $2,000,000 to repair our main river diversion infrastructure so we can get water to farm with next spring. We cooperative members will all share in repaying that loan, but without water we will have no farms.

There are still many cleanup opportunities being coordinated through Boulder County United Way, for any of the Colorado folks looking for ways to help. A reporter from The Denver Post went to Raymond a couple of weeks ago to take photos, but the story didn't run as the flood was now considered "old news." For the folks in these towns, it's very, very current. (pardon the pun.)

[bonginator]

Originally Posted by KCN

I spent yesterday volunteering with a group doing some flood cleanup in a couple of the small towns that were way up in the mountains above Lyons and Boulder but sustained major damage. So much work to be done... When you see the damage done, you realize how rocky our "Rocky Mountain" soil really is and how it behaves when exposed to an extreme moisture event. All roads should be open by Thanksgiving, but the cleanup has only begun.

The storm that caused this was without precedent in terms of recorded weather (or predictable weather) - it has been called a 1000 year storm/flood, and also a "biblical" flood.

The folks in Raymond and Riverside threw a big thank-you potluck for all us volunteers - it was the first outside help they'd had and they were so grateful. Many older folks living in these communities simply can't move the heavy debris, and many are out of the homes they've lived in for many, many years, staying with friends in the community that still have solid homes.

I'm not sure if the Airstream in the photo landed in it's current position or was parked there. It looks a LOT better than the 'SOB' trailers I saw crushed... That picture is in the Apple Valley area of Lyons, which was one area hit the hardest by the flood. The mountains above Lyons soar to more than 14,000 feet (Long's Peak), and as the rain fell for a week, water came cascading down from that height, creating rivers and streams where none existed previously, swelling others to rocky torrents. By the time all that water hit Lyons, it was carrying massive boulder and trees.

Roads and bridges crumbled, even as far away as my house, which is 20 miles east of Lyons. My irrigation cooperative just had an emergency meeting so we could vote to borrow $2,000,000 to repair our main river diversion infrastructure so we can get water to farm with next spring. We cooperative members will all share in repaying that loan, but without water we will have no farms.

There are still many cleanup opportunities being coordinated through Boulder County United Way, for any of the Colorado folks looking for ways to help. A reporter from The Denver Post went to Raymond a couple of weeks ago to take photos, but the story didn't run as the flood was now considered "old news." For the folks in these towns, it's very, very current. (pardon the pun.)

Good for you for volunteering. We also drove on 36 today to get a sense of the damage. I am amazed at the power of the river and Mother Nature. The damage is severe and will take some time to clean up. The good news is that the town seems to be committed to making the best of a very bad situation.

I fish the St. Vrain and many parts of it are up recognizable due to the damage of the flooding. Very sad.

If you are in a position to help in any small way, please do so.