"Floodwaters cascaded downstream from the Colorado Rockies on Friday, transforming normally scenic rivers and creeks into fast, unforgiving torrents and forcing thousands more evacuations from water-logged communities."
"Colorado’s outdoor paradise mired in muck; Rocky Mountain meccas reeling" by Hannah Dreier | Associated Press, September 16, 2013
LYONS, Colo. — Days of rain and floods have transformed the outdoorsy mountain communities in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain foothills — affectionately known ‘‘The Gore-Tex Vortex’’ — from a paradise into a disaster area. There is little in the way of supplies or services, and more rain was falling Sunday.
The string of communities from Boulder to Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, is a base for backpackers and nature lovers where blue-collar and yuppie sensibilities exist side by side.
Now, roadways have crumbled, scenic bridges are destroyed, the site of the bluegrass festival is washed out, and most shops are closed....
The residents who remained or began trickling back — if they were allowed to do so — were left to watch out for one another. Restaurateurs and grocers in Lyons were distributing food to their neighbors as others arrived in groups carrying supplies....
From the mountain communities east to the plains city of Fort Morgan, numerous pockets of individuals remained cut off by the flooding. Sunday’s rain hampered the helicopter searches.
--more--"
And it is still raining there now.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: "Families anxiously await word on Colo. flood victims; Hundreds still reported missing in towns" by Hannah Dreier | Associated Press, September 17, 2013
LYONS, Colo. — Those searching for loved ones received a bit of good news early Monday afternoon when morning rains cleared and helicopter searches and airlifts resumed. Ten military helicopters took off from Boulder Municipal Airport after being grounded most of the morning because of rain and clouds....
Precise accounting of the missing remains elusive, with state and county agencies sometimes reporting conflicting totals. Colorado officials listed 1,253 people missing statewide at one point Monday and then updated it to 658 later in the afternoon.
Most of the missing were in Larimer and Boulder counties, which lie north of Denver and are dotted with self-reliant mountain hamlets where privacy-conscious residents live in remote homes difficult to access even in ideal conditions....
And they usually have a gun.
--more--"
"Rescuers warn holdouts in Colorado; Those who won’t leave face weeks without power" by Hannah Dreier and Ben Neary | Associated Press, September 15, 2013
LYONS, Colo. — Leave now or be prepared to endure weeks without electricity, running water, and basic supplies.
National Guard helicopters and truck convoys carried the admonition into paralyzed canyon communities where thousands of stranded residents were eager to escape the Rocky Mountain foothills. But not everybody was willing to go. Dozens of people in the isolated community of Jamestown wanted to stay to watch over their homes.
Authorities made clear that residents who chose not to leave might not get another chance for a while.
‘‘We’re not trying to force anyone from their home. We’re not trying to be forceful, but we’re trying to be very factual and definitive about the consequences of their decision, and we hope that they will come down,’’ Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said....
Special education teacher Brian Shultz, 38, [said he] probably had enough beer to last the whole time.
Glad to see he has his priorities straight.
As he sat outside a makeshift shelter at a high school, he floated the idea of walking back into the funky mountain town.
‘‘If we hike back, I would stay there and just live. I’d rather be at our own house than staying at some other people’s houses,’’ he said.
His wife, Meagan Harrington, gave him a wry smile....
Shultz teared up behind his sunglasses as he compared his situation with that of his neighbors....
Across the foothills, rescuers made progress against the flood waters. But they were still unable to go up many narrow canyon roads that were either underwater or washed out.
They really do have a cookie-cutter template for these things and just change the words around, huh? It always reads like the same old script, no matter what disaster.
On Saturday, the surge of water reached the plains east of the mountains, cutting off more communities and diverting some rescue operations.
But progress is being made by authority, says the mouthpiece media.
Hundreds of people still have not been heard from in the flood zone, which expanded to cover portions of an area nearly the size of Connecticut. Some people may still be stranded. Others may have fled but not contacted friends and relatives....
Hundreds possibly dead? This is a MAJOR, MAJOR DISASTER!
The military put more troops on the ground and helicopters in the air to aid in the search-and-rescue effort. More rain was in the forecast....
I sure wish we had more of those Guard guys here and not over there.
--more--"
"Colo. floodwaters kill at least 3, cut off remote towns" by P. Solomon Banda | Associated Press, September 13, 2013
LYONS, Colo. — Heavy rains sent walls of water crashing down mountainsides on Thursday in Colorado, killing at least three people, forcing the state’s largest university to close, and isolating remote towns across a rugged landscape that included areas blackened by recent wildfires.
After a rainy week, up to 8 more inches fell in an area from the Wyoming border south to the foothills west of Denver. Flooding extended along the Front Range mountains and into some cities, including Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Aurora, and Boulder.
Numerous roads and highways were washed out or made impassable by floods. Floodwaters poured into homes, and at least a few buildings collapsed in the torrent....
--more--"
Why did it take the Globe so long to get me my weather report?
Related: Putting Out the California Fires
The coverage faded real fast after Labor Day.
"Yosemite wildfire attributed to hunter" by Tracie Cone | Associated Press, September 06, 2013
SACRAMENTO — A gigantic wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park was caused by an illegal fire set by a hunter, the US Forest Service said Thursday.
They always have to find a scapegoat for you, Americans.
The agency said there is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation, which a local fire chief had speculated as the possible cause of the blaze.
Oh, now it was the drug dealers that did it?
No arrests have been made, and the hunter’s name was being withheld pending further investigation, according to the Forest Service.
Because of high fire danger across the region, the Forest Service had banned fires outside of developed camping areas more than a week before the fire started.
The Rim Fire has cost $81 million to fight.
And we will get it out of that hunter's hide if nece$$ary!
--more--"
"Scientists assess wildfire damage in Yosemite park" Associated Press, September 09, 2013
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Scientists are assessing the damage from a massive wildfire burning across Yosemite National Park, laying plans to protect habitat and waterways as the fall rainy season approaches.
It's still burning?
Members of the federal Burned Area Emergency Response team hiked the rugged Sierra Nevada terrain Saturday even as thousands of firefighters still were battling the four-week-old blaze, now the third-largest wildfire in modern California history.
It's still growing? No wonder the Globe was ignoring it.
Federal officials have amassed a team of 50 scientists, more than twice the number usually deployed to assess wildfire damage. With so many people assigned to the job, they hope to have a preliminary report ready in two weeks so remediation can start before the first storms, said Alex Janicki, the Stanislaus National Forest BAER response coordinator.
What will happen then (see Colorado above)?
Team members work to identify areas at the highest risk for erosion into streams, the Tuolumne River, and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, San Francisco’s famously pure water supply.
The wildfire started in the Stanislaus National Forest Aug. 17 when a hunter’s illegal fire swept out of control, and it has burned 394 square miles.
It has cost more than $89 million to fight, and officials said it will cost tens of millions of dollars more to repair the environmental damage alone.
Pretty soon we will be talking real money here.
About 5 square miles of the burned area is in the watershed of a reservoir serving 2.8 million people — the only one in a national park.
That can't be good, but at least it is not like they are fracking over there.
Related: Obama Drilling For Martial Law Excuse
WTF?
‘‘That’s 5 square miles of watershed with very steep slopes,’’ Janicki said ‘‘We are going to need some engineering to protect them.’’
So far the water remains clear despite falling ash, and the city water utility has a six month supply in reservoirs closer to the Bay Area.
The BAER team will consist of hydrologists, botanists, archeologists, biologists, geologists and soil scientists from the US Forest Service, Yosemite National Park, the Natural Resource Conservation, and the US Geological Survey.
--more--"
"Some wild weather blamed on warming" by Seth Borenstein | Associated Press, September 06, 2013
WASHINGTON — A study of a dozen of 2012’s wildest weather events found that man-made global warming increased the likelihood of about half of them, including Hurricane Sandy’s devastating surge and the blistering US summer heat.
Related: The great global warming swindle
And yet my newspaper is $till pu$hing that lie, huh?
The other half — including a record wet British summer and the US drought last year — simply reflected the random freakiness of weather, researchers with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British meteorological office concluded in a report issued Thursday.
Good thing that f***er flooded out this year, huh?
This is the second year that NOAA and the British meteorology office have teamed up to look at the greenhouse gas connection to the previous year’s unusual events.
--more--"
I was wondering when they would start blaming it on fart mist.
