{"id":16106,"date":"2025-10-16T18:53:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T00:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/evacuations-lifted-for-northern-vallecito\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:54:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:54:46","slug":"evacuations-lifted-for-northern-vallecito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/evacuations-lifted-for-northern-vallecito\/","title":{"rendered":"Evacuations lifted for northern Vallecito"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"All
All kinds of machinery has been deployed to Vallecito to deal with flooding. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday in northern Vallecito, where heavy rains caused unprecedented flooding.<\/p>\n

Emergency responders determined water levels in the Vallecito, Grimes and Los Pinos creeks have receded to safe levels, according to a Thursday news release from La Plata County. The release urged residents to visit www.lpcgov.org\/VallecitoFlood<\/a> for a reentry guide.<\/p>\n

Residents had been evacuated since Saturday.<\/p>\n

Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Greg French said residents should expect damaged roads upon reentry, making travel difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents really need to look carefully at roads where they\u2019re driving through before they try to pass through,\u201d French said. \u201cA lot of places are a lot narrower than they were previously due to erosion and cut from the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Floodwaters deposited gravel, silt, firewood, trees and other debris onto roads and into yards. Road and Bridge crews will also be assessing infrastructure conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents can expect to see arborists working on leaning trees or downed trees close people\u2019s homes, roads or the river,\u201d French said.<\/p>\n

Residents should inspect their homes for water damage, then examine propane, electrical, septic and well systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo a really careful 360 of the house, checking all around the house,\u201d French said. \u201cIf there\u2019s any impact from water or debris, just have a high index of suspicion for damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Propane and electrical systems should be inspected before being turned back on to avoid the risk of fire, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor propane, they need to start at the tank and work from the tank toward the house,\u201d French said.<\/p>\n

He said residents should ensure floodwaters did not dislodge propane tanks from their footings. After that, they should inspect regulators and trace the lines from the tank to the house, looking for any cracks, kinks or bends that could indicate damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything looks suspicious or doesn\u2019t look normal, (residents) need to get it inspected,\u201d French said. \u201cWe\u2019re recommending that everybody call their provider and get their system pressure tested to make sure that there\u2019s no leaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents should inspect electrical systems, starting with overhead lines. Trees that fell on or are leaning over lines should be reported to officials. Power poles may also have shifted during the flooding, French said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Residents) need to take a very close look as they re-energize their home from their breaker panel,\u201d French said. \u201cIf any breaker trips or won\u2019t stay on, then that\u2019s a red flag that there could be a short. It could have been affected by water and it\u2019s grounding out.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a breaker trips, residents should leave it off, French said. Once power is restored, they should check for cracking or popping sounds or the smell of electrical burning.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectrical burning is a real acute, pungent smell,\u201d French said.<\/p>\n

If cracking or popping sounds or the smell of electrical burning are detected, French said to turn everything off and call 911. He advised residents to avoid attempting electrical repairs and instead call an electrician to inspect their home.<\/p>\n

Finally, residents should check their water and septic systems. Public water systems were unaffected by the flooding, but homes connected to private wells should test for harmful bacteria, such as E. coli.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they inspect the wellhead and it looks like water has been flowing over it, they should definitely get it checked,\u201d French said. \u201cUntil they get their water tested, they should be boiling water or using bottled water.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a home has a septic tank and leach field, French said residents should limit water use, such as showering or flushing, because of saturated ground conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that system could be slowed down or overfilled, and that\u2019s where they may want to consider calling a septic company to come and pump their tank,\u201d French said. \u201cIf they notice that they\u2019re having a hard time draining wastewater, then there is probably a problem with the septic or leach (field).\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Returning residents urged to be cautious amid lingering hazards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1497,28,1500,1394,414],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-flood","tag-headlines","tag-vallecito","tag-vallecito-reservoir","tag-weather"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20018,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16106\/revisions\/20018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16106"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}