Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate in southern Colorado last week following heavy rainfall in the region.
Rivers and streams surged, washing away roads, bridges, evacuation routes and damaging around 100 homes. According to Gov. Jared Polis, initial flood damage costs are over $1 million.
The rain came from Hurricane Priscilla and tropical storm Raymond moving inward from the Pacific Ocean and resulted in four to six inches of rain in one day within the area, with more to come. Emergency responders evacuated 390 homes in Vallecito Creek while flood waters surged to over 13 feet high around the San Juan and Blanco Rivers.
Vallecito Creek built flood infrastructure after inundations over 20 years ago, but the heavy rain overflowed the control systems. Parts of southern Utah also flooded, leading to additional rescues there.
Western Colorado has been experiencing drought and dry conditions for months, fueling wildfires and draining the downstream Vallecito Reservoir, enough to be able to accommodate these additional floodwaters.
Recovery efforts are underway in Archuleta and La Plata counties with help from volunteer organizations. Houses that experienced minimal flooding have already developed mold and mildew in the walls, which could cause health issues for residents proving that homes with minimal damage require a lot of work.
The government shutdown has increased complications by forcing volunteer and non-governmental organizations to organize disaster relief. Without congressional funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other government agencies that typically respond to disasters are unable to fund past disaster relief operations due to the Disaster Relief Fund being extremely low.
Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief (CBDR) sent volunteers to Bayfield, Colo. to begin cleaning, washing and spraying the residences for mold. Relying on local donations, this nonprofit organization trains and certifies their volunteers towards helping disaster relief from floods, fires and tornadoes.
Researchers have claimed some amount of moisture from snow in these areas is common and past climate trends have shown increased chance of floods in southern Colorado around early October, but these floods are rare.
