The Archuleta County Office of Emergency Management issued mandatory evacuation orders for homes along the San Juan and Blanco rivers in southern Colorado on Monday night as the area braces for another round of heavy rainfall.
The National Weather Service expects several inches of rainfall in some parts of southern Colorado, with the downpour peaking at about midnight, as the remnants of another tropical storm continue to send waves of heavy rain across southern Colorado on Monday, threatening additional flash flooding in multiple riverside communities.
At least two homes have been deemed a total loss, and nearly 100 others were damaged by weekend floodwaters, .
“We’re grateful at this point that nobody has died,” Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Fire Chief Bruce Evans said at a community meeting in Bayfield Monday night. “If you look at other floods around the country, they can’t say that. That’s a big testament to you guys evacuating so quickly.”
During the flood’s heights on Saturday night and Sunday morning, Evans told the crowd that one flood gauge in a Vallecito Creek channel registered 7,200 cubic feet of water flooding past every second. He had never seen it crest 3,000. Officials don’t expect Monday night and early Tuesday floods to hit that hard, but they still urged caution for residents.
“We’re prepared for anything bad that’s going to happen bad tonight,” Evans said. “We’re going to keep our fingers crossed that it goes east and west of us, but if we get the worst-case scenario, like we did on Saturday, we’re all prepared for it.”
Nearby, Archuleta County officials started damage assessments, but the number of damaged homes and the flood’s impact on downtown Pagosa Springs was not yet clear Monday.
The risk of flooding along the San Juan River in Archuleta County, including in Pagosa Springs, jumped from minor to moderate on Monday, according to a from the National Weather Service.
Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux said “continuous rain” started early Monday in and near Pagosa Springs, and the water levels were slowly rising.
The county’s Office of Emergency Management issued a local flood warning alert just before 2 p.m. Monday that will remain in effect until 3 p.m. Wednesday.
“A weather warning indicates a confirmed, current and present danger to this area,” emergency officials stated in the alert, referencing the whole of Archuleta County. “Take necessary safety precautions. All low-lying areas near rivers and water courses are in a pre-evacuation status.”
At 8 a.m. Monday, the San Juan River was sitting at roughly 7½ feet, about 1 foot below the bank, according to weather service meteorologists.
The river rose to more than 9 feet by 1 p.m., .
At 11 feet, the water will approach the area around the River Center shopping complex, meteorologists said. At 12½ feet, portions of the San Juan River Campground will be flooded.
Weather service meteorologists expect the river’s water levels to peak just shy of 12 feet, according to the flood warning.
As of Monday afternoon, Le Roux said it didn’t appear that the level of flooding seen Saturday would make a reappearance. Still, county officials are prepping as though the waters are expected to surge at any moment, he said.
The river reached a height of 12.66 feet during the weekend floods, the show.
Sunny and dry weather on Sunday allowed the river to recede and the water levels to drop, Le Roux said. And while the rain did return Monday, it wasn’t pouring at the same intensity as over the weekend.
“Every hour that we get less rain is another hour closer to the end of the storm … and when we can start our recovery,” Le Roux said.
But the weather could change in a second, he said.
Archuleta County deputies spent Monday doing community outreach, warning residents of the rising river and the potential for more flooding. The shelter that evacuated residents used on Saturday is prepped and ready to reopen if needed, Le Roux said.
He estimated that between 50 and 70 homes were evacuated during the height of Saturday’s weather system. All mandatory evacuations were lifted Sunday, but low-lying areas and residences along the river remain on pre-evacuation orders.
The evacuation order was for the south side of the San Juan River Village and nearby neighborhoods, homes on County Road 339 nearest the Blanco River, and parts of Pagosa Springs.
A separate , also active between Monday and Tuesday mornings, covers parts of the Animas River Basin, the San Juan River Basin and the southwest San Juan Mountains. The watch includes the towns and cities of Pagosa Springs, Silverton, Rico, Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio.
Nearly 400 homes were threatened and roughly 100 were damaged by floodwaters in La Plata County over the weekend.
Vallecito Creek and Grimes Creek, about 15 miles north of Bayfield, saw “unprecedented flooding” Saturday, with river levels peaking at nearly 7,200 cubic feet per second. County officials said thatap more than double the normal water levels during a “significant spring runoff event.”
Rain gauges at Vallecito Lake recorded between 3 and 5 inches of precipitation across the area Friday and Saturday, . Another 1 to 4 inches are expected to fall between Monday and Tuesday.
The flood area remains closed to the public at the intersection of County Road 500 and County Road 501, and 501A is also closed at the dam, . Several private roads were impassable Monday due to Vallecito Creek and Grimes Creek flooding over the banks.
Flooded roads included Ponderosa Homes Road, Ponderosa Homes Drive, West Grimes Road, West Vallecito Creek Road and River Bed Road.
crews were working Monday to repair county infrastructure, but other restorations were placed on hold amid the continuing rain.
County officials scheduled helicopters to fly over the flooded area for damage assessments on Monday and Tuesday. Temporary flight restrictions are active in the area, barring drones and other aircraft from interfering with the helicopters.
