Flooding in Texas brings Colorado’s worst recent flood to mind, has emergency manager considering lessons to be learned
Click here for updates on this story
COLORADO (KCNC) — It is hard to look at the heartbreak of the disaster in Texas. In Colorado past flash floods have brought similar heartache and similar threats.
“In a rain event, you have hours, not days like a hurricane to get messages out. Shift the community’s attitudes. Have them take protective measures,” said Mike Chard, director of the Boulder City and County Office of Disaster management.
“Every canyon is flooding. We have no access. Coms are down. There’s no way to warn people in many cases.”
“There was no warning. I was the warning,” recalls John Pellouchoud. Pellouchoud, who has a background in rescue work, radioed in to report flooding coming down Lefthand Canyon in 2013. Then a mudslide hit his house and carried him out into the creek and a third to a half mile downstream. The creek was littered with trees and debris. “Full of propane tanks, bridges, cars, parts of houses, decks.”
He grabbed hold of a tree as he passed and held on for hours.
Getting warning to areas like his are extremely difficult in a disaster.
“No cell. Hardlines are out. And rescuers can’t come up the canyon because the road’s gone. So you’re on your own.”
Chard says their ability to predict trouble has improved with new software and dovetailing with the National Weather Service. They can make predictive models and focus on areas that will likely have trouble. They will send deputies and fire ahead into areas before they get blocked in flooding.
Like the Texas Hill Country, Colorado has a lot of visitors who may be unaware. That is a challenge. Cell phone alerts that message to all phones in a given area help.
“So that’s one way that’s actually increased our ability to reach visitors because they don’t have to sign up for anything. They have to have their phone on and (not) turn their wireless emergency alert function off,” he says.
They worry, though, about over-messaging.
“One of the things we’re really watching is oversaturating people with alerting because people will start to get saturated to that and de-sensitized to those alerts.”
So they are careful, says Chard, to send only life threatening emergencies in those alerts. Other messages they get out in other ways.
He suggests people who are going to be in flood prone areas ensure alerts are turned on and that people sign up for emergency alerts in their counties. Also get a weather radio if you live in those areas. Having it on all the time may be overly-alarming, but if you check weather, turn it on when there are predicted weather problem days, says Chard. And he adds, don’t try to drive out of a flooded area. Head to higher ground.
“Two inches of rain in an hour generally gets us to the threshold where flash flood warnings are starting to go out. When we get a burn scar, that changes to three-quarters of an inch commonly.”
Boulder County has tributaries of Boulder Creek that cut canyons in and pose unique risks. Like the Texas Hill Country there are areas without cell service. Warnings are difficult to get out.
“Even with everything that we have, you’re still going to find people aren’t going to get the alerts and sometimes it comes down to door to door and people also being responsible, paying attention to their environment. Looking around for what’s happening and making the right decision.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
