Flooding

Rocky Mountain National Park News Release

September 15, 2013

For Immediate Release

Murray Shoemaker 970-586-1443

All Hazard Team Arrives At Rocky Mountain National Park

The Intermountain Region’s All Hazard Incident Management Team arrived on 9/14 to assist the staff of Rocky Mountain National Park with the ongoing flooding. Incident Commander Mark Foust said, “The staff at Rocky Mountain has done an outstanding job of dealing with this crisis. The incident management team is here to help them coordinate incident resources and provide the support needed to meet critical objectives”.

Trail Ridge Road is open from Grand Lake to Estes Park for essential travel only. Essential travel is currently defined as community residents, family members of community residents providing support, emergency services, and delivery trucks. Truck length may not exceed ninety feet. No other east bound traffic will be allowed, even for visitors with advance plans and reservations in the community. Trail Ridge is open to all travel west bound from Estes Park to Grand Lake.

The park continues to be closed to all recreational use. Park staff asks that everyone honor these closures, especially the backcountry and trail closures. The east side of Rocky Mountain National Park is under an emergency disaster declaration. It is too soon to determine when sections of the park may reopen. Park staff are focused on flood relief work.

Park and incident personnel are responding to requests for assistance from the town of Estes Park and Larimer County whenever possible.

Phone and internet service have been restored to the park. For Rocky Mountain National Park information, call the park’s Information Office at 970-586-1206.

-NPS-

Re: Flatirons and other OSMP lands - from the City of Boulder:

THE BOULDER OPEN SPACE AND MOUNTAIN PARKS SYSTEM IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks is closed by emergency order because of unstable bridges, trail degradation and damaged trailheads. We need the public's cooperation in staying off OSMP lands to help the City remove debris and assess safety concerns. The public is not permitted on OSMP lands until public safety issues are addressed and the city lifts the closure. Anyone found inside the closure is subject to a summons with potential fines of up to $1,000 and or 90 days in jail.

Hey Eli - got any pics to share?

Thank you Leo.
I didn't mean for it to seem like I was calling you out. Just curious as to the data. The South Platte figures are pretty unbelievable and extreme.
Jared

Start of the destruction on US Hwy 36 just below the Big Elk Meadows turnoff.

Since there seems to be a fair bit of uncertainty about where to find reliable data on river levels, here's the beta:

The USGS keeps up-to-date flow data based on automated gauges. This is the best and most reliable source of this info. Their web interface is quite easy to use as well. Here is their index of all gauges in Colorado: waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/…

Here is a link to the gauge for Boulder Creek, in town in Boulder (there is also another gauge lower down, in Longmont) waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis… It looks like Boulder Creek flows, in town, peaked out at about 5,000 cfs. Right now (mid-morning monday) they are at 2,270 cfs.

Also of interest, here is the gauge for the Big Thompson at the Loveland gauge. The chart shows a huge spike in flows on Sept 12th (Thursday), and then records stop. It looks like the flood blew out the gauge. waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/…

Similar story with St Vrain at the Longmont gauge. waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/…

JCM wrote:Also of interest, here is the gauge for the Big Thompson at the Loveland gauge. The chart shows a huge spike in flows on Sept 12th (Thursday), and then records stop. It looks like the flood blew out the gauge. waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/…

I don't know about that gauge, but the one directly upstream from the Dam Store right along Highway 34 is gonzo. The concrete structure is just gone. Insane.

Hopefully, the siphon that goes over the road in the same vicinity doesn't come down. If the footings are compromised, it could be more bad news. Looks like they are pretty firmly anchored in the bedrock, though, hopefully.

Highway 34 really looks bad. Washed out, debris... you know the story.

Steve

Many gauges appear to have been blown out, or are beyond their rating curve (used to extrapolate flow from gauge height).
You can find just about every active gauge in the state here:
dwr.state.co.us/Surfacewate…

From the Fort Morgan Gauge on the S. Platte:

Fort Morgan gauging station.

From the mouth of the Big Thompson at La Salle:

Big T.

Boulder Creek at 75th

Boulder Creek.

Boulder Creek at Orodell (above 4 mile canyon, much less flooding)

Oodell.

I was on the phone w my brother in denver the other day making plans for my trip out to visit this week. He said it was raining hard that day but we didn't know it would turn out like this. I hope everyone is getting by all right...

We were making plans to go out to RMNP and hopefully get in an alpine route..., I see the park is closed and in pretty rough shape. The pictures from boulder canyon are pretty intense too. At this point, Is it silly to even bother bringing my rack out with me? Is there anything accessible and in climb able shape coming from the Denver area? Or should we just plan on visiting the Denver brewpubs instead? I'm coming out this Thursday and staying thru the weekend...

Thanks! Good luck to everyone out there...

I would say go to brew pubs, and climb either far south or north. (Woo, of Shelf)

Boulder canyon is closed (the road) same goes for RMNP. All roads to there are gone!
The only way in and out of Estes Park is trail ridge road through the west side of Granby.

And the Natl. Park is actually closed (1 month minimum they say!)

golder wrote:I was on the phone w my brother in denver the other day making plans for my trip out to visit this week. He said it was raining hard that day but we didn't know it would turn out like this. I hope everyone is getting by all right... We were making plans to go out to RMNP and hopefully get in an alpine route..., I see the park is closed and in pretty rough shape. The pictures from boulder canyon are pretty intense too. At this point, Is it silly to even bother bringing my rack out with me? Is there anything accessible and in climb able shape coming from the Denver area? Or should we just plan on visiting the Denver brewpubs instead? I'm coming out this Thursday and staying thru the weekend... Thanks! Good luck to everyone out there...

Lots of places to climb.
I'm headed to Clear Creek again today.
I believe 11 mile and most (all?) of South Platte.
If you want alpine, maybe Mt Evans? Or something like the N ridge of Quandry? Just a trace of high snow with the storm, although a cold front is predicted for later this week.

Boulder Canyon, Flatirons, RMNP are all inaccessible.

What's the worst case scenario if you bring the rack? It sits in your pack unused?

Please everyone out there be safe! And best of luck in putting things back together. Let us all know if there is a kickstarter account or something.

Here is a low tech water level gauge conveniently located in the home in north boulder.

High water mark.

GEORDILIL wrote:Let us all know if there is a kickstarter account or something.

I'll put in an unsolicited plug for the Boulder Climbing Community. See boulderclimbingcommunity.net. They've started a flood disaster trail repair fund to assist with rebuilding in Eldo, OSMP, Boulder Canyon & elsewhere. They're registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so your donation is tax-deductible.

Interesting report from a dad of child on my youngest's volleyball team: Boulder Canyon's road is passable for lowest ~4 miles. Then, it gets really rough. They had to get a car out that had survived the floods. They used a winch to get it across where the road used to be.