The 500-year Flood

Within days of our arrival in Longmont, massive flooding occurred throughout Boulder County, to include Longmont, Boulder & Lyons.  Roads and bridges suffered extreme damage and some will take months, if not a year, to rebuild. 

 

We didn't have internet or TV hooked up at home, yet.  We had limited internet via a hotspot, so I would check Longmont's Emergency Management page for all updates, especially to see if we were to evacuate. 

 

Our townhouse faces the St. Vrain River and it had surpassed its boundaries.  We could see it from our place, which isn't normally the case according to the neighbors we spoke with during this time.  We could also always hear it raging.  There is a retention area between us and it, thankfully.  Chris wasn't worried and I told him that he was my gauge for concern.  I watched the water...a lot...but also kept my eye on Chris and kept busy unpacking and getting our place decorated.

 

We did place all of our boxes in the basement atop our plastic storage totes, just in case.

 

We even ventured out to Walmart, just a few streets east of us, one day because we were in dire need of groceries and it was a ghost town!  So eery!  Very few customers and even fewer employees, I believe!  The bakery wasn't even open because the person scheduled couldn't make it in. 

 

Things began to calm down with the rain slowly subsiding and the evacuees allowed to return home.

 

However, there is a ditch very near our front door and one morning I awoke to find water flowing down it, where it had been completely dry!  THIS started to freak me out!!!  This was now actually close to us and could overflow and then come toward us and our basement...our things, which we only just moved in days earlier!!!

 

We were, again, spared!  I am so very thankful!  We certainly didn't get the "welcome" we had anticipated when we arrived for our new life in Colorado!  I mean, Where was the sunshine?

 

I have to admit that I am very glad we didn't have TV access because I know me and I would have been 100% freaking out had I seen the coverage and the aerial pictures!!  We were so close to the devastation without realizing just how close and how devastating! 

 

We had family and friends checking on us via Facebook, phone & texts and we certainly appreciate everyone's concerns, prayers and positive thoughts.  We know you helped to keep us safe and dry!  Thank you isn't enough.

 

Here is a link from the Longmont Times Call (the local paper) of photos from that historical event.