STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—The Rocky Mountains’ record snowpack has been creating record river flows as the snow begins to melt in the rising June temperatures.
Michael Lewis of U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday that the Elk River near Steamboat Springs surpassed an all-time record Tuesday with a preliminary flow rate of 8,250 cubic feet per second. At that rate, Lewis said the river in north-central Colorado could fill an Olympic-sized pool in about 11 seconds.
Water levels like that are only seen every 400 or 500 years, Lewis added.
The previous record was set exactly one year earlier when the river peaked at 6,970 cubic feet per second. If the state sees a rapid warm up and hits abnormally high temperatures, the Elk might peak again because there is still more snow in the mountains.
Some flooding was reported in the Steamboat Springs area. The rising waters of the Yampa River flooded the crawl space and well at the Steamboat Christian Center’s parsonage, forcing the family to move out, according to the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
Members of the congregation were putting sandbags around the house and a nearby building used for youth gatherings.
The snowmelt-swollen Colorado River was creeping into a few homes in western Colorado and washed out a road in Fruita. James M. Robb Colorado River State Park was closed after it was flooded, The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction reported Wednesday.
In northeastern Colorado, the Cache la Poudre River flowed over its banks in a few spots in Greeley and Windsor. Homeowners along the river were preparing for flooding, digging ditches to divert water and piling up sandbags.
Mary Jane Duran-Blietz said she has spent $7,000 to $8,000 to buy and haul in materials to build a berm around her home and might move dirt across a street to divert water to the edge of her property.
“The worst thing I can get is a fine,” Duran-Blietz told the Greeley Tribune. “I’ll throw it into the rest of the bills and worry about paying it later.”
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Information from: Steamboat Pilot & Today,
