{"id":16211,"date":"2025-10-09T01:35:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/free-sandbags-available-in-la-plata-county-ahead-of-storm\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:55:14","slug":"free-sandbags-available-in-la-plata-county-ahead-of-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/free-sandbags-available-in-la-plata-county-ahead-of-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Free sandbags available in La Plata County ahead of storm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sand
Sand and sandbags are being provided for free at the La Plata County Fairgrounds as officials brace the community for potential flooding. The National Weather Service is calling for rain and snow into early next week. (Garret Jaros\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Free sand and sandbags are available in Durango and Bayfield ahead of potential flooding expected Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

The remnants of Hurricane Priscilla are expected to hit the Four Corners starting Friday, bringing 1 to 2 inches of rain in a matter of days, with up to 3 inches possible in the high country.<\/p>\n

The rain could cause flooding throughout the area, prompting county officials to urge residents to act proactively, said La Plata County Director of Emergency Management Shawna Legarza.<\/p>\n

\u201cA flood watch is in effect from Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon,\u201d Legarza said. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be excessive rainfall. As emergency management, we want people to be as prepared as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The La Plata County Office of Emergency Management is partnering with Durango Fire Protection District, Upper Pine River Fire Protection District and Los Pinos Fire Protection District to provide free sand and sandbags to community members.<\/p>\n

DFPD Chief Randy Black said fall storms like this one have caused some of the region\u2019s biggest flooding events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting a month or multiple months\u2019 worth of rain in a few days,\u201d Black said.<\/p>\n

Sandbags will be available at the La Plata County Fairgrounds and Event Center at 2500 Main Ave. in Durango and Upper Pine Station 1 at 75 South Clover Drive in Bayfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want homeowners to be as prepared as possible,\u201d Legarza said. \u201cThe little things that we can do is get the sand and the sandbags ready, start filling them and to be prepared. If any homeowners know that they live in areas that have potential for flooding, or they\u2019ve seen it flood in the past, please go get some sand and sandbags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legarza said areas at risk for flooding include canyons, normally dry washes, slickrock, recent burn scars and low-lying areas near bodies of water. In these areas, water can stack up quickly and pose a risk to people and animals.<\/p>\n

The best way to stack sandbags, she said, is to stagger them three to four bags high, like a bricklayer lays bricks. Additionally, sandbag walls should be built to divert water toward a lower point in the landscape so it drains away from any structures.<\/p>\n

When the rain hits, residents should be aware of their surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever drive through a flooded area \u2013 ever,\u201d Legarza said. \u201cDon\u2019t attempt to try to cross a flooded gully or a flooded wash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legarza said people should check with the Colorado Department of Transportation<\/a>, which monitors road closures caused by flooding, rockslides and mudslides. If someone finds themselves in a flooded area, they should move to higher ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be prepared. Know where you\u2019re going, check the weather radar, check CDOT,\u201d Legarza said. \u201cAlways make sure you have a little bit of extra food and water and some blankets in your car. It\u2019s a good preparation for winter months. Make sure your animals are safe, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

could cause flooding in the Four Corners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,1497,28,475,1953,1370,414],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-flood","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-los-pinos-fire-protection-district","tag-upper-pine-river-fire-protection-district","tag-weather"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211","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=16211"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21170,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211\/revisions\/21170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16211"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}