More than half a foot of rain is a 500 year flood?
There was a bigger flood in 1975 so it is hardly a 50 year flood. They are ignoring the rural districts that are hit just as bad or worse. The Flooding extends all the way to Wyoming. The Big Thompson river washed out highway 34 again. Estes Park has all roads going into it closed.
The Paiutes must have been keeping really good records.
I think that’s close to the normal annual rainfall for the area. So, yes, it’s a lot of rain in a short period of time and the ground is saturated.
We had this type of storm in Williamsburg c1988. You stay in the house...no problem. The roads were flooded. Anyone going out is stupid.
“More than half a foot of rain is a 500 year flood?”
It’s a western thing. The ground doesn’t suck up water in that quantity, especially if there’s been a wildfire. This is what a couple inches in the Albuquerque foothills does... that is a 20’ deep diversion channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0h3geNskZ4
Desert ground is hard pan...can’t take more than a couple of tenths of rain at a time or the run off creates flooding conditions.
Very little is absorbed, the rest is channeled off or finds its own way.
Extremely dangerous, especially in low lying areas.
We have problems here when we get more than .25” in a monsoonal season thunderstorm...
Yes, remember it is the ROCKY mountains. Rock does not absorb much water. Most rain turns to run off after the first 30 min. It has been raining for 3 days now. Also, the recent wild fires have destroyed much of the forest and vegetation that would have absorbed some of the water.
Some places have tornado sirens, mountain towns have flash flood sirens. Believe me, if you hear one of those go off, you start climbing right away to high ground if you want to live. A 10 to 20 foot wall of water coming down the canyon at 30 to 40 mph can seriously ruin your day.
It is when your total rainfall for the year is only double that....