Flooding disaster in Douglas

Associated Press

Published July 9, 2006 at midnight

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DECKERS - Drenching rains washed out roads, left behind debris and flooded houses in areas of Douglas County still recovering from the largest wildfire in Colorado history, prompting Gov. Bill Owens to issue an order Saturday for a state disaster emergency.

The order allows state and federal assistance in the area where the Hayman fire burned 138,000 acres in 2002.

State officials reported that five homes in Douglas County had flooded and 40 more were threatened, Owens' spokesman Nate Strauch said.

Douglas County sheriff's spokeswoman Cocha Heyden said officials were surveying whether homes were primary homes or vacation cabins.

Heyden said it was difficult for county, state and public works crews to get around the area, with Highway 67 closed from Deckers to Westcreek Road because of the flooding. Parts of the road were washed out.

"They had so many trees and debris down on the roadways," she said. "Our deputies aren't going anywhere, other than the roadblocks."

Heyden said officials expected to find water damage, mudslides and fallen debris in the area.

Janine Hall, a Westcreek resident, told KCNC-TV in Denver that she watched water pick up three cars in her neighbor's driveway, "like they were marshmallows, just lifted them up."

People in at least a dozen homes on Highway 67 between Deckers and Westcreek could not leave Saturday, as rain continued to fall. Heyden said authorities were monitoring them by phone and could get them out in an emergency. The homes had food, water and electricity, she added.

An automated system called 86 homes in the Westcreek area late Friday to tell residents to seek higher ground, and several campgrounds were evacuated.

Heyden said some residents chose to stay, but "we don't have anyone that's stranded or trapped or anything like that."

Melinda Epp, spokeswoman for the Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross, said the agency was aiding two families near Deckers whose homes had been damaged by mud. Work to open a shelter Friday night was stopped when no one showed up, she said.

Epp said another attempt could be made should the situation worsen.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for portions of the Front Range until midnight, including the area near Deckers, about 40 miles southwest of Denver. Meteorologist Carl Burroughs said there was potential for the slow-moving storm to drop as much rain Saturday as Friday.

The flooding was occurring on the South Platte River basin, where the Hayman fire burned four years ago. Heyden blamed much of the flood and mud damage on the fire, which destroyed vegetation and ground cover.

"The ground is not absorbing anything," she said. "There's nothing there."

Meanwhile, a boulder the size of a small car slid onto an unoccupied vehicle on U.S. 6 in Clear Creek Canyon in Jefferson County, forcing the road's closure for about seven hours Saturday afternoon, Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Paul Peterson said.

Crews were forced to blow the rock apart, then move the smaller pieces off the road, he said. No one was injured. The vehicle belonged to a rock climber who had parked it on the side of the road.

Peterson said the cause of the slide had not officially been determined, but he suspected the recent rains, which would have loosened rocks and soil in the canyon.

In southwest Colorado, 1 inch of rain fell within 35 minutes Saturday night near Red Mesa north of the New Mexico line, and a flash flood warning was issued for southwest La Plata County, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Zumpfe said. County officials were assessing whether there was any significant damage.

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