DENVER—The forecast for flooding of some Colorado rivers improved slightly Thursday, but at least one is still expected to overflow as the state’s record mountain snowfall melts over the next week.
The Yampa River in northwest Colorado will likely rise above flood stage at several locations, said Aldis Strautins, a National Weather Service official in Grand Junction.
“(The forecast) backed off slightly but not enough to bring it below flood stage,” he said.
The Yampa already has caused some lowland inundation though it hasn’t reached flood stage, at which point water is high enough to damage structures.
Treste’ Huse, a weather service official in Boulder, said the forecast for some other rivers doesn’t include “really drastic, rapid rises” that were expected earlier.
The runoff could still cause a second peak later in the month, she said.
Those river predictions are based only on melting snow, Huse said. Rain could increase river flows, but no significant or widespread rainstorms are in the forecast for the next few days, she said.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board said the rivers causing the most concern include the Elk, Colorado and North Platte along with the Yampa.
The weather service issued flood advisories for all or parts of four counties in northern and western Colorado.
Mountain snow depths have been as high as 247 percent of normal statewide, and at least one monitoring site set records both for the depth of the snow and the amount of water it contained.
Minor flooding was reported this week on the Yampa River in the Steamboat Springs area of northwest Colorado. Residents of other communities are filling sandbags to protect their homes.
About 200 people turned out for a flood information meeting Wednesday night in LaPorte, a small town near Fort Collins in northern Colorado.
LaPorte is beside the Cache la Poudre River, and some residents are worried that it will overflow its banks.
“It varies day to day how concerned I am,” said Joni Suther, who said she and her neighbors in LaPorte have been filling and stacking sandbags since Friday.
Officials at a meeting of the state’s flood task force Wednesday voiced concern about the potential for flooding but said the right combination of cool days interspersed among warm weather could keep the runoff in check.
Brandon Williams of the Colorado Division of Emergency Management said the spring weather and high water are attracting rafters, kayakers and anglers to the state’s rivers at a potentially dangerous time.
He advised people to check on local forecasts before venturing on or near rivers.
“We’re just at that time period where people go back out and play,” Williams said. “We’ve got that nexus of play and concern.”
Warnings about high-water dangers have prompted potential rafters to ask more questions when they call about a river trip, said Susi Larson, a partner in Whitewater Rafting in Glenwood Springs on the Colorado River.
“I wouldn’t say (business) was down” because of news reports on river danger, she said. “There’s just a little more explaining to do.”
Larson said the section of the Colorado River that her company uses has been more controlled than others in the state because of upstream dams.
“We’re rafting every day,” she said. “Everybody is just having a good time.”
