As most of you know, Colorado suffered a pretty severe storm last week which resulted in unprecedented flooding. While my office was affected, Chris and I feel especially grateful that the area around our house weathered the storm just fine. We were a bit soggy for a while from the rain, but there was no signs of flooding in our neighborhood. We were a bit worried there for a bit, as we live near a lake and stream that we thought could breech if the rain continued coming down at such a rapid rate. But thankfully, that nightmare never came true for us.
I work just a few blocks from the mouth of Boulder Canyon, and two blocks over from Boulder Creek, where so much of the flooding came from. To give you a bit of perspective on how fast the creek (which for all intents and purposes became a roaring river) was moving, it normally flows around 200 cubic feet per second at this time of year. It peaked at over 5,000cfs, with what the USGS called 'water walls' up to 20' high at times. Roadways completely washed out, bridges demolished, and sadly, too many lives lost.
{ Boulder Creek as it normally is. }
{ Boulder Creek during the flood, though I am pretty sure this was not at the peak, as it would not have been very safe to be near the creek during the flash flooding. }
So what did we do? We hunkered down for 4-5 days, I worked from home, which Chris enjoyed, and waited for the sunshine to reemerge and dry everything out a bit.
They have been discouraging volunteer efforts just yet, instead asking for donations to the Red Cross. But as the sun returns, and folks start to understand the damage and devastation that occurred, I am really keen to help those who were not as lucky as us. People whose homes were badly damaged, some even completely destroyed. The initial estimates say that 19,000 homes were either damaged or destroyed. I can't imagine being in their shoes, and hope that I can find a way to be helpful in putting the pieces back together again.
The local search and rescue operations, as well as the National Guard, Coast Guard, etc. have done a great job of keeping order, as well as rescuing those who have been stranded in the mountains or in their homes. I have no idea how they managed to do it, but they deserve all of our gratitude for what they have done.
Looking back at all of these images the news has been showing, it still shocks me that water can do so much damage. I really never understood the power it could have until last week.
Feeling lucky and grateful today...
