{"id":63786,"date":"2018-08-14T05:03:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T11:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/we-freak-out-every-time-a-raindrop-falls\/"},"modified":"2018-08-14T11:03:10","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T11:03:10","slug":"we-freak-out-every-time-a-raindrop-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/we-freak-out-every-time-a-raindrop-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We freak out every time a raindrop falls\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n

HERMOSA \u2013 It took about 20 minutes to forever change the lives of residents in Pines Townhomes.<\/p>\n

Shortly before 2:30 p.m. July 24, rain hit the burn scar of the 416 Fire, sending a torrent of mud and debris toward homes on the north end of the Animas Valley, about 12 miles north of Durango along U.S. Highway 550.<\/p>\n

Within 15 to 20 minutes, debris flows caused extensive damage to property and completely altered the topographic makeup of the area. And now, it\u2019s a problem that will likely last years.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty minutes, that\u2019s all it took,\u201d said Larry Bareis, who lives in Pines Townhomes. \u201cThis is something we\u2019ll be battling for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soils that have been burned in a wildfire can no longer absorb moisture, so when it rains, there\u2019s a high risk of flash flooding.<\/p>\n

These fears materialized last month with several flooding events north of Durango from the 416 Fire burn scar.<\/p>\n

\"Bruce
Bruce Hamer, part owner of Hamer & Sons Construction, uses an excavator Monday to remove mud from next to the home of Marge and Gene Vanderbur. The Vanderburs\u2019 home in Pine Townhomes was hit by debris flows July 17 and 24, filling the home with about 4 feet of mud and water.<\/span>Claudia Laws\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County commissioners toured the damage Monday at Pines Townhomes as residents there continue to pick up the pieces from the dangerous floods nearly a month ago.<\/p>\n

Bill Vanderbur said the floods came right into his parents\u2019 home that they\u2019ve owned since 1997, filling up the place with mud.<\/p>\n

Excavation crews continue to remove mud and fortify the home against future flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was literally a raging river through here,\u201d Vanderbur said.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not clear where to go from here, Bareis said. The risk of flooding is constant, and it would be incredibly expensive to attempt to mitigate a problem that doesn\u2019t have any clear answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question everyone wants answered, we can\u2019t answer,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, we freak out every time a raindrop falls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The downstairs bathroom of the home of Marge and Gene Vanderbur was filled with about 4 feet of water and mud after a July 24 debris flow. On Monday, about 18 inches of mud remained in the room.<\/span>Claudia Laws\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bareis said the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad contracted crews to clear drainage in the neighborhood that was practically destroyed in the floods in case more debris flows come down.<\/p>\n

The railroad is also doing work above the neighborhood on a section of its tracks that was damaged, possibly installing culverts and small dams to mitigate the impact of debris flows.<\/p>\n

Neighbors in Pines Townhomes pooled money to clear its main road and clear up other damage around the community. But those funds have all been used up, Bareis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting to a point where we\u2019ve done all we can,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t do anymore. We need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

But help is getting hard to come by. There are certain limitations and complications with insurance and federal agencies, and local and state agencies say there\u2019s a high risk of lawsuits when dealing with flood issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat of lawsuits is hanging on everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d said Butch Knowlton, director of the county\u2019s Office of Emergency Management. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be, but it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Butch
Butch Knowlton, center, director of the county\u2019s Office of Emergency Management, talks with Pine Townhomes residents and county commissioners on Monday during a tour of the area devastated by flooding July 24.<\/span>Claudia Laws\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Melvin Smith, who has lived in a private residence adjacent to Pines Townhomes since 2000, had two cars totaled in the floods, and the power knocked out to his house. Crews are unable to restore power until debris is cleared from the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been eating out a lot,\u201d Smith joked. \u201cAt this point, I might be a poster boy for disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighbors expressed concern Monday that even if they are able to clean up the mess from July\u2019s flooding, all that work might be wiped away with the next debris flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time it rains, we\u2019re going to have to deal with these issues again,\u201d said Jim Engelken.<\/p>\n

Bareis added: \u201cHow do you engineer for what could possibly come down? We have a lot of people who are very, very stressed \u2026 and we have a very long road ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@ durangoherald.com<\/em><\/p>\n

An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect name of the townhomes toured Monday by La Plata County commissioners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents look for answers to debris flows, which could last years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2838,2357,3834,1497,13,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-63786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-416-fire","tag-disaster-general","tag-emergency-management-director-butch-knowlton","tag-flood","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63786","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=63786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63786"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=63786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}