Hundreds told to evacuate as tropical storm remnants cause Colorado mountain streams to flood

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The remnants of a tropical storm brought flooding across parts of the Southwest on Saturday, prompting hundreds of evacuations in southwestern Colorado as mountain streams raged above their banks and crews toiled to protect property with sandbags.

Hardest-hit areas included Vallecito Creek, where almost 400 homes were under an evacuation order north of a reservoir 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the small tourist city of Durango.

The Upper Pine River Fire Protection District urged people to avoid bridges, with trees being washed downstream. The high school in nearby Bayfield was opened to take in evacuees.

Rising floodwaters topped flood control systems that were built after inundations almost 20 years ago. The water was expected to peak Saturday night, and after a lull Sunday, yet more heavy rain was forecast for Monday and Tuesday.

After telling customers to leave, Blue Spruce RV Park & Cabins general manager Debby McCall was waiting to hear if authorities would tell her to go too.

“I’ve never seen this much water come down. It’s just absolutely insane,” said McCall, a lifelong area resident who has lived at the RV park for 16 years.

Crews sandbagged the park to protect its septic systems from flooding on the Vallecito Creek.

“I’ve been seeing hot tubs floating down the river,” McCall said. “It’s definitely a state of emergency up here.”

The good news, McCall said, was that the Vallecito Reservoir downstream has been low after months of drought and seemed to have plenty of room to handle the floodwaters.

Two months ago, dry weather was fueling wildfires across western Colorado. They included one of the biggest in the state's history that caused a prison to be evacuated.

Flooding also was inundating roads and basements Saturday in southern Utah, where firefighters in Washington City rescued a person and their dog from a car caught in floodwater.

The rain came from the remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla, which began moving inland over California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico on Thursday.

Aspen trees in peak fall yellow were a dramatic backdrop to the Colorado floodwaters. Meanwhile, the moisture was bringing another sign of changing seasons: High-elevation snow expected in the next few days.