FORT COLLINS, COLORADO — FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The remnants of a tropical storm caused flooding across parts of the Southwest on Saturday, prompting hundreds of evacuations in southwestern Colorado as mountain streams overflowed their banks and crews worked to protect properties with sandbags.
The hardest-hit areas included Vallecito Creek, where an evacuation order was issued for nearly 400 homes north of a reservoir 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the small tourist town of Durango.
The Upper Pine River Fire Protection District urged people to avoid bridges, where trees were washed downstream. The high school in nearby Bayfield was opened to receive evacuees.
Rising flood waters topped flood control systems built after floods nearly 20 years ago. The waters are expected to reach their peak on Saturday night, and after a lull on Sunday, more heavy rain is expected on Monday and Tuesday.
after telling customers to leave Blue Spruce RV Park & Cabins’ general manager, Debbie McCall, was waiting to hear whether authorities would ask her to go, too.
“I’ve never seen that much water go down. It’s absolutely crazy,” said McCall, a lifelong area resident who has lived at the RV park for 16 years.
Crews covered the park with sandbags to protect drainage systems from flooding on the Vallecito River.
“I’ve seen hot tubs floating down the river,” McCall said. “It’s definitely an emergency here.”
The good news is that the Vallecito Reservoir downstream is running low after months of drought and appears to have plenty of room to handle floodwaters, McCall said.
Two months ago, dry weather was fueling wildfires across western Colorado. included One of the biggest In state history that caused the evacuation of a prison.
Roads and basements were also inundated on Saturday in southern Utah, where Washington City firefighters rescued a person and his dog from a car stuck in floodwaters.
The rain came from the remains Tropical Storm Priscillawhich began moving inland over California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico on Thursday.
Aspen trees in peak fall yellow served as a dramatic backdrop to Colorado’s floodwaters. Meanwhile, the humidity was bringing another sign of the changing seasons: snow is expected at high elevations in the next few days.