Catching Up: Post Flood

By now you’ve heard about the great Colorado flood of 2013.  The numbers for Boulder County:

  • Damaged Residences: 557
  • Residences destroyed: 345
  • Damaged Commercial: 33
  • Commercial properties destroyed: 3
  • Deaths: 4

I’m not sure about the numbers statewide.

Other than a leaking roof, where the water ran down into the wall and out into the closet and soaked the carpeting, I survived fine.  Throughout the flood, I was busy trying to meet a work deadline amidst power outages.  The entire week was a bit surreal.  Rain was falling each day and I was given a nearly impossible printed circuit to design in a nearly impossible time frame.  Actually it was four circuit boards, but I only completed two.

The biggest inconvenience has been transportation.  It’s now nearly two weeks after the flood and the main roads in and out of the area are still closed.

I wish I had some spectacular photos to share, but there was never any time to go out and take photos.

I am tired of all of the hyperbole in the media regarding this event. There is so much misinformation and comparisons of apples and oranges.  So I’ve pretty much stopped keeping up on things.

Fall is a bit late this year, very little color has developed so far.  Given that the peak of the wildflowers were a couple of weeks late in mid-summer, followed by the peak mushroom season being late, I can conclude that Fall will be a bit late.

I don’t think the heavy rains portend a bad winter.  The monsoon and winter weather patterns are nearly opposite of each other and different forces are in play.   Prior to the heavy rain storm, the monsoon was running pretty close to average.  So therefore I’ll bet winter will be average, if not a few weeks late getting started.

 

Perfection

The cascade of water over the boulders and logs was perfect.  In another spot in the same creek, a thick column of water poured into a pool creating a perfect distribution of effervescent bubbles.

I noticed over the winter, the majority of the Mean Trees had blown down.  This made me a bit sad because the presence of the Mean Trees gave that location a name.  On the other hand, to be left standing, dead, in paradise, unable to partake in life was probably torture for those trees.

 

The Mean Trees, are a patch of old gnarled trees, probably killed by fire or lightning.  Nearly all of them had lightning scars.

The Mean Trees, are a patch of old gnarled trees, probably killed by fire or lightning. Nearly all of them had lightning scars.