So you've probably seen all of the horrific pictures of flooding around Colorado by now.
Much of the flooding has happened quite a bit north of us, although we've seen our fair share of constant rain and swollen rivers.
One thing that has protected our neighborhood is a large nearby park called Bear Creek. It was actually built quite a while back after a horrific flood destroyed the town of Morrison, which is now on it's western boundary. The park was built as a large catch basin to prevent this from happening again.
Although it's never been used since, it's being used now and has effectively shuttled water away from the neighborhoods in our area. I've included a picture of the park below with the reservoir at 'normal' levels.
I went running yesterday to see how much flooding had occurred there and it was pretty jaw dropping. I've roughed in (in pink) what space the reservoir NOW occupies. I've NEVER seen even standing water in the field just south of the reservoir and now it is one, large continuous lake.
To give you an idea of the depth - if you see the bike path just to the NW of the original reservoir (which is now mostly under water) - that represents a rise in water level (via using a topography map of the area) of about 25 feet to cover that path!! The basin is huge though - water would have to rise another 110ft or so to crest the dam further to the NW above the path. The top of that dam is pretty much the elevation of our house (the little red 'A' marker in the lower right corner).
Gratefully, this week seems to be headed for a more typical dry period - so hopefully the northern areas affected by the flood can recover and repairs can be made. Entire sections of road are just plain 'gone' and rivers have swept away homes and caused loss of life - a count of lost lives has yet to be determined since many are reported missing simply because entire towns are cut-off.
The flight rescue operations have so far exceeded those of Katrina. It's immense.
Much of the flooding has happened quite a bit north of us, although we've seen our fair share of constant rain and swollen rivers.
One thing that has protected our neighborhood is a large nearby park called Bear Creek. It was actually built quite a while back after a horrific flood destroyed the town of Morrison, which is now on it's western boundary. The park was built as a large catch basin to prevent this from happening again.
Although it's never been used since, it's being used now and has effectively shuttled water away from the neighborhoods in our area. I've included a picture of the park below with the reservoir at 'normal' levels.
I went running yesterday to see how much flooding had occurred there and it was pretty jaw dropping. I've roughed in (in pink) what space the reservoir NOW occupies. I've NEVER seen even standing water in the field just south of the reservoir and now it is one, large continuous lake.
To give you an idea of the depth - if you see the bike path just to the NW of the original reservoir (which is now mostly under water) - that represents a rise in water level (via using a topography map of the area) of about 25 feet to cover that path!! The basin is huge though - water would have to rise another 110ft or so to crest the dam further to the NW above the path. The top of that dam is pretty much the elevation of our house (the little red 'A' marker in the lower right corner).
Gratefully, this week seems to be headed for a more typical dry period - so hopefully the northern areas affected by the flood can recover and repairs can be made. Entire sections of road are just plain 'gone' and rivers have swept away homes and caused loss of life - a count of lost lives has yet to be determined since many are reported missing simply because entire towns are cut-off.
The flight rescue operations have so far exceeded those of Katrina. It's immense.
Kev, thanks for posting this. Unreal. But SO glad the Colorado Sheens are safe!!!!
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