Mountain Meltdown: planning for possible flooding in the high country
Minturn Mayor Earle Bidez said in his time in the small mountain town, he's seen the Eagle River come up onto some of the lower properties. It's always the same timeframe, too.
"Spring," Bidez explained. "This year we had a very heavy snowfall year in the winter time and an early warm period which will generally lead to an early flow... like this."
"It's pretty darn high for the first week of May."
It's not enough to warn people to baton down the hatches, but enough that they have little sand depots at the front and back of town with free sand and free burlap sacks (you have to bring your own shovel, they used to supply them but they kept going missing.)
"You just stack 'em up as high as needed, that usually is fine!" Bidez said.
While the river seems to be roaring a bit above average for usual this time of year, the continued thing to watch is the temperature; if it gets too hot, too fast and for an extended period of time, the snowmelt all happens at once and the ground isn't able to absorb everything, and it pushes more water down river. Not only is that bad for our soil, but it's also bad for flooding, so consistency is what we aim for, not that we control the weather.
"As long as we have some clouding, as long as we have some cool weather here and there, I think everything is going to be just fine," Bidez said. "It would take, 70-80 degrees days in a row to raise it to a level of great concern."
Silverthorne and Breakenridge told CBS News they are not concerned right now about the possibility of flooding even with better snow this year than last.
Vail has also said it will put out sandbagging areas for residents, but has not done so yet.
