More than 100 homes flooded in southern Colorado on Saturday as floodwaters washed homes off of their foundations, damaged bridges, closed roads and stranded at least eight people near Vallecito Creek.
Several creeks north of Vallecito Reservoir in La Plata County rose rapidly on Saturday, breaking through levees and over riverbanks, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla moved over the region.
The storm has dropped 4 inches of rain over the San Juan Mountains in the last 48 hours, and more storm systems will bring additional rain in the coming days, said Erin Walter, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office.
The Upper Pine River Fire Protection District ordered mandatory evacuations for nearly 400 houses near Vallecito Creek at 10:30 a.m. after floodwaters breached a levee and immediately began flooding homes, Chief Bruce Evans said.
Crews reported a six-foot wall of water moving down the creek, tearing up trees by their roots, washing the roof off of at least one home and flooding most houses with at least a foot or two of water, Evans said.
Emergency crews rescued eight people who refused to evacuate. Multiple bridges are damaged to the point they are unusable, closing the northeast part of the reservoir to all traffic.
La Plata County officials are working with the state of Colorado to declare a disaster emergency because of the flooding, Evans said.
Floodwaters are expected to peak Saturday night and crews were sandbagging the fire station and the Blue Spruce RV park.
An online evacuation map from La Plata County shows mandatory evacuations along the creek north of Vallecito Reservoir, from Safley Road to the north and Mushroom Lane to the south. An evacuation point and shelter is set up at Bayfield High School.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the area through Tuesday, including La Plata, Archuleta, Hinsdale and San Juan counties.
It’s unusual for southwestern Colorado to see this much rain this late in the year, Walter said.
“It’s become a firehose of moisture over our area, including the San Juans,” she said. “The main plume of precipitation has moved on to the east, and we will see some additional rainfall, and maybe even higher rainfall amounts, this evening.”
A cold front is expected to bring more rain to area starting early Sunday morning, though it will not have as broad of impact, Walter said. Another storm system is forecast to move through the San Juan Mountains on Monday night into Tuesday.
The last significant flood event happened in October 2006, when flooding along Vallecito Creek broke through to surround at least 18 homes, according to the fire district.
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