KLMO flooding

One of the local talking heads noted "a storm of biblical proportions". And it's still going on and doesn't let up until the weekend.
 
This meme has been making the rounds...

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Golden was beachfront 60 million years ago...
 
I have a nice 2 acre, 1" deep lake now. Maybe I should stock it with trout for the weekend? And we're on relatively high ground way out East.

It's interesting to walk the property in boots and feel the sandy normally rock-hard soil squish under your boots a significant distance but it "rebounds" as soon as you take pressure off of it. Totally saturated.

Interestingly it's too wet to be muddy right now. Almost nothing sticks to the boots or the dog. It's just wet wet wet.

I'm guessing weather like this isn't too great for septic systems and leach fields. Kinda keeping an eye out for how soggy that particular part of the property is getting as well as the neighbor slightly above and south and where his is compared to where the runoff goes into our property. The well head is significantly higher and far enough away that should be okay, plus it's well sealed and a 450' well with water that sits at about the 275' level. Shouldn't see any contamination problems with ours. I suspect some of both septic systems and shallower wells out here will have problems.

They oiled one of the dirt roads near the entrance to the 'hood a month ago. It's completely full of potholes now and worthless. They'll have to grade it flat and start over. If that's the worst we get, we're in great shape.

No water in the sump pump pits in the basement and no signs of leaks anywhere which is always nice to find out about a new house after three straight days of rain. Not even a drop of water sneaking in under the garage doors.

Basically we're good. Haven't heard from multiple family members in Estes Park since last night but one works for the power company and is a former Fire Chief up there, so I know they can take care of themselves and probably are helping a bunch of others.

Family up near the Cache La Poudre river up in Northern CO is all fine waiting for flood crest later today. They're all on higher ground generally.

I leave the weather radio set to all SAME codes instead of just our County since I'm a weather nerd. It hasn't shut up since 2AM this morning. Back to back warnings and alerts at about 1/2 hour intervals all day today.

The NWS flood warnings include historical flood info and almost all of them end with statements like... "This crest is similar to the storm crest that reached X point X feet in [insert 1970s date here]."

Heard an unconfirmed number for the Boulder County area near Lyons, CO at 11" in 24 hours. I've seen years where the total rainfall number for the YEAR didn't hit 11". Wow. The town of Lyons is completely cut off via roads and not expected to be reached for a couple of days.

NWS just alerted again. Cripple Creek forecast to hit 11.5' by Friday afternoon in Golden. Most of the retention ponds on the Rocky Mtn Arsenal are expected to overtop and/or fail tonight and downstream neighborhoods are being evacuated. Bear Creek into Morrison expected to leave its banks tonight from Evergreen all the way down to Lakewood. Larimer County expected to get another 1" overnight flooding western Ft Collins and up 287 to Ted's Place and the Poudre Canyon. Flash flood emergency for Big Thompson Canyon and the city of Loveland. Heck I'd type more of it but the weather radio timed out and closed audio because the alert took too long. Been like that all day.

It's just an incredible amount of water falling from the sky.
 
Another NWS flood warning for Fourmile burn area and mudslides in Fournile Canyon. The alerts just don't stop. This one is for Western Arvada, Jefferson County, etc Too many cities to list.
 
Uploaded a YT video of what the NWS All-Hazards radio sounds like here right now...

http://youtu.be/-_MRHlLSZqU

It doesn't stop. Continuous flooding alerts. Been like that since 2AM yesterday morning. Amazing.
 
KLMO airport manager reported fish swimming past entrance to airport on the airport's Facebook page earlier.

Fish. Unbelievable.
 
I got the basement leaks plugged up last night - wished I would have had a case of that magic spray crap "as seen on tv" but hydraulic cement and some epoxy putty seems to have done the trick. But this morning as I was getting ready for a weekend of chasing elk with a muzzleloader, a shriek from the den changed those plans. My wife, decidedly unhappy, standing in puddles in the carpet, gave me "the look" ... The one that says "don't even THINK about leaving until this is fixed."
Found a downspout that someone or something had knocked the extension off ... Now to dry out the floors and carpets.
It's sunny right now, for the last hour or so, but rain clouds loom large on the western peaks.
 
Doubt you'll get much relief soon, another tropical system looks like it'll be there soon.
 
And I'm supposed to travel to Denver on Monday for work. Nice. Company's located in Centennial area- be interesting to see if my trip gets postponed/cancelled.

Best wishes to all affected up there!
 
az350x said:
And I'm supposed to travel to Denver on Monday for work. Nice. Company's located in Centennial area- be interesting to see if my trip gets postponed/cancelled.

Best wishes to all affected up there!
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I don't think you should have any problems in the Centennial area as things stand now. I drove into town (south Denver) from beyond the Parker area this morning and everything seemed normal.
 
This is kinda like Katrina, in that the places that are hit worst, people can't get into yet. Once the water goes down, people will get an understanding of just how bad this flooding event has been.
Interstate 25 has never been washed over, now it's washed over in TWO locations.

I'm working 12+hr shifts for the foreseeable future.
 
I expect to be told shortly that we're still in a drought though.:mad2:
 
murphey said:
One of the local talking heads noted "a storm of biblical proportions". And it's still going on and doesn't let up until the weekend.
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I'm not sure what part of the Bible they're reading. I don't think we're too the point of having to build an Ark.
 
flyingron said:
I'm not sure what part of the Bible they're reading. I don't think we're too the point of having to build an Ark.
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My field guys requested a purchase order for several truck loads of lumber today. Dunno what it's about but they said half the crew would be rounding up animals...
 
On the shores of Colorado.
 
My folks headed home to KGXY around noon today and almost didn't make it in due to the bridges all about to be topped. A little ziggin and zaggin and they got home on the only remaining open bridge.

And there they sit, since the city is now cut off. Aunt in Evans lost power and may have to move over to another family house tonight.

Storm started in Estes Park days ago and last we heard from family up there was 2AM the morning the rain started.

Then the water made it all the way down to KGXY today and surrounded that family clan.

Haven't heard from family in Ault but they're on high ground.

Judging by knowing the lay of the land up there, I'd guess the KGXY airport is pretty close to the floodwaters if not partially flooded. 42nd & US. 85 was under water up to a horse's chest.

Why that measure? Because someone used a horse to go get someone else out of a submerged car there earlier this afternoon. Yeehaw cowboy. LOL!

Here was my drive up the dirt road this morning out here in Elbert County, to show how widespread the massive amounts of water was. I'm 85 miles from the serious flooding of today by road. This road is usually bone dry and covers the vehicles in layers of fine dust.

Average precipitation for Colorado in September, 1.2".

http://youtu.be/up3bpxYy2wQ
 
denverpilot said:
Here was my drive up the dirt road this morning out here in Elbert County
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More right rudder! There was serious yawing going on there. It's usually EASIER to keep the ball in the center when in a car :)
 
PilotAlan said:
More right rudder! There was serious yawing going on there. It's usually EASIER to keep the ball in the center when in a car :)
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If only I could get my CFI to ride with me in a car. at least I could show him how good I drive!:D

George
 
PilotAlan said:
More right rudder! There was serious yawing going on there. It's usually EASIER to keep the ball in the center when in a car :)
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Yeah I've gotten so used to the yawing on that road from washboards, my ass will be out of calibration for use in the airplane. :)

You get a feel for if it's "grabby" or "slippery" each day and when "slippery" steering done more as a gentle suggestion while hammering over the washboards than anything resembling precision. On a "grabby" day it's a workout just keeping it on the road.

Karen's newer F-150 takes that stuff like you glued it down as does the Subaru. The GMC Yukon is all over the place.

Always interesting to meet a tractor trailer coming the other way on that road. Especially at night. Most folk in the neighborhood call that direction on CR 29 the "Summer shortcut" for good reason. The other direction out of the subdivision is paved. ;)
 
So how many total inches are we talking about?
 
Swampfox201 said:
So how many total inches are we talking about?
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looks like about 5" east of the hills with some areas reporting nearly a foot.

reporting in the hills is poor but radar showed heavier rain there

the flooding from the hills seems to have a couple causes - the first is steep slopes (run-off rather than infiltration) and large basins with limited outflow - the second is containment failures

there have been efforts over the years to predict flooding based on radar imagery, topography, and ground cover - they used the Big Thompson flood to calibrate the model in one study
 
Swampfox201 said:
So how many total inches are we talking about?
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It looks like my County got 3" which is 2" more than the monthly average.

Some areas in the mountainous badly flash flooded areas and downstream got anywhere from. 8" to over 11" in 24 hours and then it continued at anywhere from 1-4" a day for two days after that. This was in steep mountain terrain where that much water has nowhere to go but downhill, fast.

Since it was so widespread, downstream areas also got 3-6" PRIOR to the swift moving mountain rivers even starting to crest above flood stage -- so there was just nowhere for it all to go. As it came out of the mountains it becomes a sheer volume problem for the drainages after that, which is what flooded LMO and GXY. That water will continue on out and Ft Morgan is next. Just depends on how much it spreads out in that 40 miles of river bed.

Blockages that eventually broke free in the steep terrain and overtopping of dams, as well as controlled releases to protect other dams all added insult to injury. Earthen dams were a significant concern in some drainages and some failed.

One dispatch call I heard was, "Sound the sirens in Boulder please, we just had a mountain of debris and vehicles break loose with a 30' wall of water right behind them" from a Sheriff monitoring the Fourmile Canyon area above Boulder.

My reaction listening to that was, "vehicles? Plural?!" ... Wow.
 
About a month ago I was listening to a meteorologist and a climatologist discussing how, over the last few years, "systems" just don't seem to move like they used to. That they seem to get stuck more. Hence the reason we've been going through extended periods of drought and wet.

FWIW.

Of course, the above has been translated from scientific terms to Tim terms.
 
The real sucker punch was how widespread it was and relentless. Here's a typical radar shot.

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The storm was over 100 miles long and almost as wide and all of it, rain. Note that blob extends from Denver to Cheyenne, WY.

It stayed in position basically over that area you see there for almost two full days and one night, and then only relented slightly and broke down into rain bands and waves of precip that paraded across that same area from south to north, with maybe an hour break in-between bands, for almost another two days.

The third day it split up the middle and continued to rain on the Lyons/Boulder area while heavy rains filled the downstream drainages so they would already be full when flood waters from upstream reached the lower flatland.

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Then it went widespread again.

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Just a perfect relentless rainstorm unlike the Big Thompson flood of 1976 where an isolated thunderstorm parked itself at the top of the Big Thompson Canyon and wouldn't dissipate until a dam broke. That's our "traditional" mountain flash flooding. This was more like it started like that but also had a large friend who covered more than 100 square miles of the downstream drainages with inches of water simultaneously.

Someone claimed (I haven't checked the math) that to match the rainfall in Boulder in the last three and a half days, Boulder would have had to have gotten over 200" of snow in the same timeframe.
 
I'm right in Boulder and have been fortunate. It now looks like the worst is over here, or, perhaps, areas to the northeast have really been hammered. It's very difficult to get around on the plains, and the mountain roads are all closed plus have mudslides and washouts.

Interstate 25 remains closed for 50-plus miles. Four dead already, 80 "unaccounted for" and the National Guard called in. Mountain towns getting evacuated by helicopters - they closed Boulder Municipal Airport two days ago. It's high on a hill and is the primary helicopter and rescue staging point. It was a wonderful sound to hear the helicopters flying today. They seemed to launch once the it was SCT007, and there's a TFR for flights below 3000 AGL that aren't part of rescue efforts.

More than 13 inches of rain in about 48 hours (ending early this morning). We normally get ~20 inches of rain annually.

We do NOT expect this in a semi-arid desert. No underground drain sewers, just little gullies on the sides of the streets. My area still has power, gas, water, and internet.

I put two little videos together. http://youtu.be/3hqVQckHv08 and http://youtu.be/fKsGWGY6kzo

I've been in this house for thirteen years and I have _never_ had visible puddles of water in my backyard. Yesterday, the yard is basically several large puddles. It's simply staggering to see the amount of rain we've had, without stopping, for so long. I dug drainage ditches yesterday - should have done it earlier. Very happy they were dry this afternoon.

A friend four miles up in the mountains has had no electric, gas, or water for three days and doesn't expect any until Sunday. She's also blocked in since the roads are washed out. Her husband is traveling for work, and even if he flew back now, he could not get to Boulder and certainly couldn't get to his house. She still has a land line.

Streets in Boulder were dry today, but most all had visible "high-water" marks with lots of debris and lots and lots and lots of mud. And the creeks are like rivers.

We're fortunate it's been warm, around 60F outside. I was up on the roof and cleaning the gutters, and the rain and gutter water were pretty warm. I can't imagine what it would be like 20 degrees colder. Of course, thirty degrees colder with snow, and there would be total devastation.

I'd guesstimate +80% of basements here have damage, and lots of small roof leaks people didn't even know about have caused drywall and ceiling damage.
 
Sorry to see all that water in Boulder. Lots of damage and recovery $$$.

It would have been nicer if that fell on the west side of the divide. The Colorado River Basin has been in drought condition for years. It would have been nice to see all that water run into Lakw Powell and Lake Mead.

Las Vegas NV just finished monsoon season. That storm now in Colorado was dropping water here, but not that much. We had a record number of days with rain some where, normally causing desert flash floods. Not enough to break the drought, we need snow pack in the Rockies for that.

Monsoon season lasted about 2+ weeks longer than normal. All the "dry" lake beds now have standing water. Give it a month and it will be dry enough to drive, fly and camp on.
 
I told Karen our plans for a large concrete slab for an outbuilding and a slab for the driveway and at least one tower base for a radio tower (trying to plan to have multiple loads delivered at the same time) are probably off.

Concrete prices are probably going to skyrocket here shortly like they did during the 90s housing boom. This time, it's for repairs instead of new construction.

I doubt I could negotiate a price today for a later pour. Maybe. But probably not worth the hassle.
 
By the way, all that water only brought Horsetooth Reservoir to 60%. I haven't checked Aurora, Cherry Creek, or Chatfield's numbers yet.
 
denverpilot said:
Someone claimed (I haven't checked the math) that to match the rainfall in Boulder in the last three and a half days, Boulder would have had to have gotten over 200" of snow in the same timeframe.
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Mike Nelson, one of the weather dudes. The conversion was 1 inch of rain = 10 inch of snow. In 2 days, Boulder got 11.5 inches, Aurora got more than that, but isn't downstream of Lyons and Estes Park, which is the cause of most of the damage. On the other hand, the major road just a mile up from my house just collaped into a sinkhole about a half-mile long. And still collapsing.
 
TFR over Longmont, Erie, Boulder and Jef...er...Rocky Mtn Metro as of 9/13/13. This is the NW area along the Front Range.
 
murphey said:
Mike Nelson, one of the weather dudes. The conversion was 1 inch of rain = 10 inch of snow. In 2 days, Boulder got 11.5 inches, Aurora got more than that, but isn't downstream of Lyons and Estes Park, which is the cause of most of the damage. On the other hand, the major road just a mile up from my house just collaped into a sinkhole about a half-mile long. And still collapsing.
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Mike Nelson is still on the air? I think I remember him from when we lived there, and we left 30 years ago. :D
 
As far as the airport itself, it seems it may have done better than originally thought. It is still officially closed for now though.

Longmont Airport said:
Vance Brand Longmont Airport update for 6:35pm. Spoke to Longmont Airport Manager Tim Barth by cell phone. Despite earlier fears that once Lyons Lake Dam#4 that is to the west broke, that water coming down from it would cause the airport grounds and hangars to flood, Tim reported that the airport is doing better than expected after waters rushed through from that dam break. He personally witnessed the dam breaking while overhead in a heli and it was an unbelievable sight. He would like us to pass along that NO hangars have flooded, still dry. Only one hanger, #9 had water come up to the door yesterday and that hangar owner was contacted last night. There is still water on Airport Road and the airport is inaccessible and Tim emphatically stated that NO ONE is to come out to the airport, especially tomorrow. Power is still out and no hangar doors can even be opened and power isn't expected to be restored until mid week. Update on the new taxiway that suffered damage is that it will need to be re-done somewhat. Again, the AIRPORT IS CLOSED and being used ONLY for emergency operation flights. Good news for the airport, but many LMO pilots who live in the area have had their homes flooded. The airport staff is aware of those and is assisting where needed. ~BRodriguez
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Ghery said:
Mike Nelson is still on the air? I think I remember him from when we lived there, and we left 30 years ago. :D
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Dude. Ed Greene is still on the air. You can tell he spent the big bucks on that toupee', it almost looks real. Teeth are nicely capped also. Honestly for as old as he is, he's holding up well in the "must look good for TV cameras" biz.

And Cathy Sabine is still at 9News. She still predicts weather like an Accountant.

Haven't seen Nick Carter in a while. His bio at KDVR says this now: "Nick doesn't only report on Colorado's weather, he often gets to fly through it before it even reaches the front range. That's because in his spare time, Nick is a pilot for a major air chater company where he flies Denver area physicians to rural medical facilities throughout the Rocky Mountain region."

His last weather post on the website was in April?? Interesting. He was my college meteorology professor some 20 years ago. Heh.

Tom Martino got himself into serious financial trouble and had to sell his Cirrus. Still doing his "Troubleshooter" show after 30 years. He's on KHOW in the 9-noon slot.

Mike Nelson is tireless. Truly passionate about weather that guy. He regularly drives into the station and goes live at 2AM when stuff starts up late at night. Most stations then get shamed into starting an hour early at 4 AM. Nelson is a machine.
 
denverpilot said:
Dude. Ed Greene is still on the air. You can tell he spent the big bucks on that toupee', it almost looks real. Teeth are nicely capped also. Honestly for as old as he is, he's holding up well in the "must look good for TV cameras" biz.

And Cathy Sabine is still at 9News. She still predicts weather like an Accountant.

Haven't seen Nick Carter in a while. His bio at KDVR says this now: "Nick doesn't only report on Colorado's weather, he often gets to fly through it before it even reaches the front range. That's because in his spare time, Nick is a pilot for a major air chater company where he flies Denver area physicians to rural medical facilities throughout the Rocky Mountain region."
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Nick's doing the KDVR flood/rain/everythingelse weather this evening (9/14).
 
Helicopters at KBJC this morning.

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