News

Emergency management scrambled Thursday to prepare communities downstream from Vallecito Reservoir for more flooding as a succession of unseasonably severe storms battered Southwest Colorado, causing the already-turgid Animas River to swell – in some places – dangerously above its banks.

All day Thursday, the effects of two storms, and ensuing flooding, wracked communities along the Animas River, with flash-flood warnings issued to Durango, Bayfield and Vallecito areas until 3:30 p.m-

An intense thunderstorm showered rain, hail and lighting on Durango shortly after noon Thursday, briefly knocking out power in some places. By 1 p.m., the sheer volume of water sloshing through town was staggering: At Rotary Park, the Animas roared barely 2 feet below the railroad bridge. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the river was gushing at 6,730 cf/s at its Durango station, about the same time a roof apparently caught fire from a lightning strike in the 300 block of East 32nd Street.

Meanwhile, hydrologists, weather scientists, city and state officials were trying to solve a terribly wet math problem: Vallecito Reservoir is nearly full, and more weekend rain is expected, so how much water can engineers safely release from Vallecito Reservoir?

Justyn Hock, a regional spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation, said though downstream communities were already dealing with flooding, for the moment, “We are actually ramping up the releases.”

Hock was adamant that there’s no risk of dam failure.

But, she said, usually Vallecito Reservoir releases no more than 2,500 cf/s into the river. “2,500 is the level where we start to see some flooding of pasture areas,” Hock said.

But faced with a wet weekend forecast, on Thursday, the Bureau of Reclamation ramped up releases from Vallecito into the Pine River to 2,780 cf/s at 9 a.m., then to 3,000 cf/s overnight.

Bureau of Reclamation hydrologists will be at Vallecito through the night to monitor water releases.

Still, downstream communities are getting hit.

Bayfield Town Manager Chris La May said, “There’s concern that if the dam can no longer store any more water and it spills over the top, and the release exceeds a certain amount, we’ll have decisions to make,” he said.

“We do have properties in the floodplain. Pine River still has some capacity to swell, but we’re monitoring whether we either have to start evacuating or use sandbags to try and avert the water.”

He said in the event that Vallecito is forced to further increase its releases, the town probably would have 24 hours to prepare for much worsened flooding. “They’ll increase it by increments – it’s not going to be a wall of water coming down,” he said.

Upper Pine Fire Protection District on Thursday was sandbagging at-risk homes along the Pine River and the Upper Pine.

La Plata County personnel are watching roads and bridges for flooding.

In a news release, Butch Knowlton, La Plata County emergency management director, said “some property owners downstream of Vallecito Reservoir have reported minor flooding and water in areas where there has been no water in recent years.”

Numerous agencies, Knowlton said, had been working for almost a week to ensure the safety of the dam and the downstream communities.

In a phone interview Thursday morning, Durango Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz said the department had rushed to issue high-water advisories to the boating community.

Her employees are telling people to portage around Smelter Rapid. “It’s a pretty big wave right now, and people are flipping.”

Dennis Phillips, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said in coming days, Durango could see up to an inch of rain per hour in a succession of thunderstorms.

“In the Animas, you already have very high flows. Any additional heavy rain will impact that,” Phillips said. “Right now, there’s a flood advisory going for that area – pretty much all along the Animas from Silverton down. Thunderstorms are just expanding all over that area, right now, across (U.S. Highway) 550, even over to Telluride and down to New Mexico.”

Before the flash-flood warning, Metz said, “We haven’t started closing sections of the Animas River Trail. But we’re monitoring that – particularly the underpasses.”

Mallory Arter, trip consultant for Mild to Wild Rafting & Jeep Trail Tours, said generally, the high water levels are, “awesome for us. It’s definitely something we enjoy.”

Some raft trips on the north Animas have been suspended because of high water.

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was closely watching the waters, too. In certain low-lying areas, including No Name Rapid, north of Needleton, water crossed the tracks. Right-of-way maintenance crews stayed busy clearing culverts, said railroad owner Al Harper.

No trips were canceled, Harper said.

The railroad used a helicopter to search for rock and mudslides.

“We’re looking hard at it,” Harper said. “It’s a very unusual situation to have to be worrying about slides this time of year.”

cmcallister@durangoherald.com. Herald Staff Writer Chuck Slothower contributed to this report.