The emergency preparedness meeting at the school Wednesday night yielded little practical information for us regarding protecting our house. While an irrigation ditch--an offshoot of the Cache la Poudre River--runs behind our house, another concern is flooding of the street in front of our place. But no one could accurately predict where water might come from, or when.
Because there was so much snow this winter and spring, the run-off from mountain snowmelt is supposed to be at record levels. Right now, the Cache la Poudre is running around 2200 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the mouth. This is high and up about 500 cfs in the past few days. If we get to anything near 6000, we'll see some topping of banks near our home. There's the potential for 8000 cfs, which would be really bad, but I don't think life-threatening.
So yesterday, a dump truck dropped off a big pile of sand in front of our house. Some neighbors are starting to sandbag (the sand is free; we need to buy and fill the bags), while others think it won't do much good or the flood won't hit their property. We're debating at least filling some bags to have on hand, but honestly, without some idea where water will actually come from (there are several scenarios) we're not sure where to even put the sandbags. And if your sandbagging causes water diversion onto a neighbor's property, you're responsible for any problems that may arise.
Right now, our crawl-space (basement) has some standing water in it, but we think that's from the irrigation ditch spilling its banks further upstream and filling the water table. People have been asking why the irrigation companies don't lower the flow in these ditches to help with some of the water problems in this neighborhood, but in Colorado, the irrigation companies have all the power. They decide how much water to run, depending on farmers' needs. This is causing a lot of ill-will between us residents and these powers-that-be. It turns out the situation is way more complicated than I ever knew.
Here are a few recent newspaper articles that can provide many more details about the flood situation:
http://www.northfortynews.com/News/20110601_FloodingOnPoudre.htm
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110602/NEWS01/106020363/Officials-prepared-Poudre-flooding?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Yesterday, we took photos of everything in the basement (furnace, for example) and first floor, for insurance purposes. We're also going to document our vegetable garden, which represents a huge investment in plants. All my really valuable stuff (I don't own much--artwork mostly) has been moved upstairs, and important documents are in a portable file in my car. If we need to leave quickly, I have two pet carriers at the ready for the chickens. Cross your fingers that we are spared the worst, and that no one gets hurt. I'm afraid that someone is going to be killed trying to tube or kayak on the river when it's dangerously high, so I urge anyone camping or recreating near the banks to be really careful, especially with children.
Also, the predictions for increased snowmelt are not taking into consideration a flash flood from a downpour. If we get a huge rainstorm, we could be in real trouble. Once again, anybody camping near the river in the next few weeks should keep an eye on the weather. A freak storm upstream in the mountains can cause a wall of water to come barrelling down the mountain in minutes. Always plan an escape (climb to safety) or avoid the river altogether for overnight stays.
On a brighter note, yesterday was a gorgeous summer day. Took a bike ride up to the Bingham Hill Cemetery in Bellvue and got some lovely shots of the heirloom irises there.
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