Watch VideoSnowpack creates flooding potential
Story By: Ryan Wilson
Source: KOAA
The Wet Mountains lived up to their name Thursday, as rain and snow clouds hung low over the ridges.
"There's some runoff not a whole lot," Gary Kyte said, while looking at the creek that runs behind his Beulah home. But he says he's not worried about the snowpack creating flooding.
"Typically, flooding is not a major concern up here." He's more worried about heavy rains, like the ones that knocked out part of Highway 78 last year.
Snowpack in the Arkansas River Basin is at 140 percent of the average. That creates a potential for flooding in some spots around Pueblo County.
Emergency officials are keeping a close eye on the area that was burned by the Mason Gulch fire, because there's not enough vegetation to soak up the moisture.
In the foothills around Beulah, there is little snowpack but the ground is saturated. If there's heavy rain, or heavy snowfall, the water doesn't have anywhere to go, and that's also a concern down in Rye and Colorado City.
In Pueblo, officials say there's an upside to low levels in the reservoir because it can handle the extra runoff this year. Flash floods, though, are always a danger.
Experts say never drive or walk across moving water and if you live in a flood plain get flood insurance. Also, plan escape routes. "We would want to encourage those people to recognize different evacuation routes to get away from their homes if they would need to leave," Lisa Shorter, of the Pueblo County Department of Emergency Management said.
And back in Beulah, they're just going with the flow. "It seems like we have something every two or three years. Between droughts and fires and the main highway bridge being washed out, but we're doing fine, we're surviving," Kyte said.
Experts say runoff flows peak around the first of May, and taper off in early June. Flash floods are a threat until the end of July.
