Monsoon floods
The flooding caused by the return of the Southwest Monsoon is all the rage this morning around the country. Here's the story from the AP via KSL.com (Utah). Coyote Gulch loves the USA Today headline, "Flooding devastates Colorado, New Mexico; 5 homes flooded." We feel that the Northeastern U.S. and Gulf Coast would consider 5 homes to be a minor disaster.
Coyote Gulch recommends that you water nuts get going today and head up Tennyson Street, north of 52nd avenue for a good look at Clear Creek. Anywhere along Clear Creek in the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt works also. The creek is roiling today and that's always a good sight. An alternative would be to head down to 15th Street and the South Platte. Lots of water there also. We remember the South Platte in the spring, before the Chatfield and Bear Creek dams tamed it. You'd see trees and other debris caught in the current, washing downstream, in the muddy water.
Meanwhile, Governor Owens declared a state disaster emergency, according to the Longmont Daily Times-Call. From the article, "The order allows state and federal assistance in the area where the Hayman fire burned 138,000 acres in 2002...
"The flooding was occurring on the South Platte River basin, where the Hayman fire burned four years ago. [Douglas County sheriff's spokeswoman Cocha Heyden] blamed much of the flood and mud damage on the fire, which destroyed vegetation and ground cover."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post. They write, "Rain that fell at nearly 2 inches an hour in places destroyed buildings, devastated highways and caused massive mud, tree and boulder slides this weekend. Horse Creek, a stream that normally is a few feet deep, became a raging torrent 25 to 30 feet deep and 300 feet wide Friday night and caused severe damage to Colorado 67 between Westcreek and Deckers, said Jamie Moore, Douglas County emergency management director. The floodwaters caused significant damage to three buildings and frightened area residents who awoke Saturday morning to the sound of boulders the size of cars being tossed down the swollen stream...
"In Westcreek, one cabin had water halfway up the living room windows, and dead trout, logs and other debris littered the interior. Torrential rains in the past week have saturated the ground in a number of Front Range locations, primarily in southern Jefferson County and Douglas County, according to Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. As of 7 a.m. Saturday, the latest time for which figures were available, the storm had dumped 1.5 inches of rain on south Lakewood, 1.25 inches in Conifer and nearly 2 inches in Deckers. Areas farther south also have received significant rainfall. A storm Monday washed out Colorado 115 south of Penrose. As of 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Horse Creek was rising again during steady rain, but not to the levels it reached Friday. Fredin said he expected an average of 0.5-inch of rain to fall in portions of Park, Douglas, Jefferson and Elbert counties Saturday night...
"[Brent Cain] said firefighters also came to the aide of a drunk who was wandering perilously close to the raging creek." 
Down Pueblo way the news is about the same. The Pueblo Chieftain reports, "A rainstorm pounded Pueblo and the surrounding region into late Saturday night, flooding street corners and intersections and closing Colorado 78 to Beulah. About 9:30 p.m. the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department closed the Beulah highway when, in some areas, reports of 6 inches of water covered the roadway. Colorado 78 remained closed late Saturday starting at mile marker 23, 8 miles from where the city limits end, according to spokeswoman Lisa Shorter. Road and bridge crews were called in to help close roads. Rock Creek Road and a couple smaller roads in the Mason Gulch Fire burn area were also closed, Shorter said."
"colorado water"
11:21:13 AM 
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