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<br />Denver Rocky Mountain News: July 11, 2006 -Page 23a
<br />Circulation: 320,000 daily 661,000 Sunday. Continued From -Page 1a
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<br />A partially submerged meadow in the Westcrcckarea south ofDcckers remains a muddy mess Monday after heMy rains led nearby West Creek to overllow its banks ovenhe weekend.
<br />
<br />Flooding will cost millions
<br />
<br />Rains too much,
<br />too late for many
<br />Colorado farmers
<br />
<br />
<br />The steady weekend rain along
<br />the Front Range continued to cre-
<br />ate some earth-moving adventures
<br />Monday.
<br />Evergreen National Bank was
<br />brtellyevacuated after a couple
<br />rocks roUed down. a hW and into a
<br />wall of the bank at 28145 Colorado
<br />74, according to the Jefferson COWl-
<br />ty Sherlll's Omce.Damage was mJ-
<br />nor and the bank reopened for busi-
<br />ness wlthin about 10 minutes.
<br />WhOe the storm brought much
<br />needed rain to Colorado, It was a
<br />case of too much too late for many of
<br />the state'sfarmers.
<br />The heavy rains did llttle to resur-
<br />rect fanncrops that burned up after
<br />a massive irrigation Well shutdown
<br />this sprtng, but farmers with access
<br />to surfllce suppUes.1n swoUen rtvers
<br />said the water wllI help Increase the
<br />yields otthelrcrops.
<br />HundredS otweU.dependent farm-
<br />ers from BrightontoFOlt Morgan
<br />have watched cropswlther this sum-
<br />mer, and not even these rains could
<br />brlngbackthousands of acres ofpoln-
<br />tocs, onlons and com.
<br />water continued to run along thc top "We had already abandoned the
<br />of the road and onto the otherslde. tlelds," said Bob OCllllck, who fanus
<br />A woman at a home at 11875 Cola- nearWigglns.
<br />rad067,nearFergusonRoad,hadto OelsIck sald his family faces huge
<br />be rescued Saturday after the operating iosses this year because
<br />. bridge connecting her home and the halfofthelrneldswere served bywclls
<br />highway washed away. Chunks of that were shut down and the oUler
<br />broken concrete lay severai feet be- halfdidn't have enough swfllcewater
<br />low In the swoUen creek. to survive day after day of 90-degree
<br />A quarter mUe downstream, pl~c- weather and hi
<br />'cre'- But' 'l1e'
<br />surllic
<br />, ,Plat~e
<br />, . ;tho;:'U
<br />tl-.:\~r. .
<br />
<br />struction wlU come from the highway
<br />department's contingency budget.
<br />Highway crews should be able to
<br />restore temporary access for resi-
<br />dents stranded by the washouts
<br />wlthln two to four weeks, Norton
<br />sald. Complete reeonstructlon wllI
<br />take months, he said,
<br />"It wtlllake most of the sununer
<br />to get It done right," he sald.
<br />DECKERS - The destruction Whlle Norton hovered oval' the
<br />that a surging flood wreaked thJs flood scene, residents below cleaned
<br />weekendonacanyonhighwayalong up their property and tried to re-
<br />West Creek In Douglas County wllI store some semblance of normal Ufe.
<br />cost taxpayers mUUons to rebuild The floodwaters lelt marks three
<br />and could take all summer. Cola- feet high on a small home less than
<br />rado Department of Transpor!a- 20 feet from the banks of West
<br />tlor! Executlve Director Tom Creek. The homeowner, who
<br />Norton sald Monday. wOuldn'tgtve his name, wore a mask
<br />"It's pretty bad," Norton sald,.mJn- as he hauled wet, muddy J\trnlture
<br />utes WI' taking e helicopter lIlght out the front door,
<br />wtth other sta.te and federal highway One of his two front picture win-
<br />omcta.L~ overthe washed.out remains dows was broken out, exposing mud-
<br />of l!.h elght.-mJie st.rutch of Colornclo dy electronle eqUipment he'd placed
<br />67 between Deckets and the West. In the sill, The contents of hJs home
<br />creek subdlv1slon to the south. "It's were rulned. he said, and dangerous
<br />goll)g to be pretty expensive to get It bacteria had taken over. .
<br />rep~d," "This Is us big a disaster as the
<br />Pi'storm that dumped 2 Inches of Hl!yman Fire or the bUzzard of
<br />I'llin In an hour Friday nlght pushed 2003," said JamIe Moore, emergency
<br />al~ng debris that clogged culverts management director for Douglas
<br />alorigtheroad.lnsomepleces, West County, "Really, It's as big an incl-
<br />Creekfonnednewchannelsthatde- 'dentaswe'veeverhad,"
<br />toured arDWld existing bridges, "ThIs III a very dangerous sltua-
<br />wasll1ng out parts of the hlghway, &lon," Moore said, as he stood near
<br />Norton sald. mUe marker 93.5 on Colorado 67,
<br />A'four- to five-nille stretch of the where a .hole at least 20 feet deep
<br />road sustained the heaviest dam- had been opened by floodwaters.
<br />age!'That part of the hlghway wlU. A lon,; ~fl:oad along a
<br />haYQ to be rebuilt completc1f,:;. 10;' ',: ell West Creek
<br />NoftonSllld. . .... ; ;';: ROU b~~n ~llSlled .
<br />'l',ypicalJy suchr.ellalrs ~st bec;: crqc}ts!~f1 m
<br />mUtwe!llth\~t Sal~~t,~ 'f' 'th"\l!Ml..e,,!,,,.! fh Y(R-, ~~~I' " ,
<br />e, e . oney or . ! 9:l11e~.,; " .}!. po. ns,
<br />
<br />By Jalm c. EnssJin
<br />p,oC!~'{ MOUNTAIN NEWS
<br />
<br />didn't think was possible nine
<br />weeks ago when the state shut of!
<br />wells because hundreds of fanners
<br />weren.t able to comply wlth a new
<br />state law on recharg!ngthe river.
<br />The rain dld not do much to im-
<br />prove whitewater condltions fOr'
<br />Colorado's high.country ralters and
<br />kayakers, however. ...~
<br />The upper stretches of Colorado's
<br />maJor rivers got less rain than those
<br />downstream, U.S, Geologlc1\l Sur-
<br />vey statistics show.
<br />"The best sites for rafting didn't re-
<br />c"lve a lot," USGS hydrologist Joe
<br />capeslus said. "WIthin a couple days,
<br />they should be back to normal."
<br />The Boulder County Sheriffs Of-
<br />nce Issued a high-water advisory
<br />Sunday for Boulder Creek, but by
<br />mldmomlng Monday the levels had
<br />dropped from a high of almost 700
<br />cubIc feet per second to about 460
<br />cfs. Normal for this time of year Is
<br />about 225 cfs.
<br />No problems were reported asll re-
<br />sult of the high water, sherlll's
<br />Cmclr, Phil West sald. '
<br />Monday momlng, Ricky and
<br />Steve Foster and Lena GTCenberg
<br />were coolIng themselves 0ll'1n the
<br />sWU't-movlng creek, west of down-
<br />town.
<br />Greenberg said the high waters
<br />are great for jwnplng Into deep
<br />pools - "Except you can't see the
<br />rocks" - but that she wouldn't
<br />dream oftublngln such condiUons,
<br />The sherlll's omce advised
<br />agaInst tubing an(tnshlng WltU. the
<br />wa~~rSf!lcede. :'. . > , ; :, ,', ,;:';
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