{"id":98663,"date":"2018-07-18T17:10:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T23:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-one-durango-couple-new-concrete-wall-kept-them-safe-from-mudslides\/"},"modified":"2018-07-18T17:10:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T23:10:27","slug":"for-one-durango-couple-new-concrete-wall-kept-them-safe-from-mudslides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-one-durango-couple-new-concrete-wall-kept-them-safe-from-mudslides\/","title":{"rendered":"For one Durango couple, new concrete wall kept them safe from mudslides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><!-- gallery:d1ccdd6c-4a15-46ff-a4fa-c116e4a6a6ca --><br>\n          <!-- gallery:88fbf8f0-4610-4872-9fef-6e3851363574 --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mNiymt6YG8Q\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As heavy rain caused flooding, rockslides and mudslides Tuesday night, Fran and John Reynolds felt a little more settled than they might otherwise have.<\/p>\n<p>The Reynolds live on U.S. Highway 550, about 14 miles north of Durango. When the 416 Fire was burning, John, a geologist, started to worry that their house was in a precarious position because of how badly the fire had burned the hillside and because he remembers the floods across the Animas Valley after the Missionary Ridge Fire in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>So the couple built a 9-foot flood wall along a natural drainage on their property. On Tuesday night, they saw its effectiveness as it kept the raging, debris-filled water at bay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI swear, I really don\u2019t know if we would have made it because it happened that fast,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we hadn\u2019t had the wall there, it would already be coming at our house by the time we recognized it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=144f5c33-bbcd-45c8-bdcb-26e2b13419ed&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=144f5c33-bbcd-45c8-bdcb-26e2b13419ed&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=144f5c33-bbcd-45c8-bdcb-26e2b13419ed&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=144f5c33-bbcd-45c8-bdcb-26e2b13419ed&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" alt=\"Fran Reynolds walks through rocks and dirt on Wednesday next to her house after water and debris flows on Tuesday night raged down the hillside next their home west of U.S. Highway 550 and about 14 miles north of Durango.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Fran Reynolds walks through rocks and dirt on Wednesday next to her house after water and debris flows on Tuesday night raged down the hillside next their home west of U.S. Highway 550 and about 14 miles north of Durango.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>James Clark, meteorologist and information technology officer with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said a rain gauge about 15 miles northwest of Hermosa, just outside the burn scar, measured 0.46 inches in 20 minutes on Tuesday before it stopped reporting.<\/p>\n<p>Heavier rainfall came on the east side of Hermosa Creek to Highway 550, but the Weather Service didn\u2019t have a rain gauge for this area, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you get rainfall rates at that rate, you\u2019re definitely going to get debris flows in a burn area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, campers at the KOA Campground on County Road 250 described how a river of mud, water and debris flooded the campground Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n<p>The flood started as just a trickle, they said. As the stream sped up and grew, it picked up coolers, camp chairs \u2013 anything in its path.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were looking maybe five, six, sites down and like, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s someone\u2019s cooler, there\u2019s a fire pit, there\u2019s chairs, there\u2019s a kite,\u2019 and then all of the sudden you look down at your feet \u2013 \u2018it\u2019s coming through here now,\u2019\u201d said Jerod Smith of Denver.<\/p>\n<p>The floods closed U.S. Highway 550 and County Road 250 on Tuesday night, and the campground was evacuated.<\/p>\n<p>The roads fully opened in both directions at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, there is extensive debris on the side of the roads, so cleanup crews can be expected in coming days.<\/p>\n<p>Mud and debris also covered railroad tracks for the Durango &amp; Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, so train passengers had to hike to the road to waiting buses. The railroad canceled service Wednesday and Thursday but said in a news release that service will resume Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday morning, about 30 evacuees waited at the Exhibit Hall at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. They were shuttled 12 at a time to the campground by a La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office bus to retrieve their belongings.<\/p>\n<p>Campers whose sites were the easiest to access were taken first. Then, officials worked to access the harder-to-reach spots blocked by mud and debris.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Hahn of Michigan waited for the bus Wednesday. He said he was in town for a mountain bike trip from Durango to Moab that uses backcountry huts. However, since the campground was evacuated, he couldn\u2019t join his friends for the first day\u2019s ride.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l1XmfJomj7E\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Hahn and his wife, Ann, said debris flowed under their motor home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou start hearing the boulders going underneath our motor home going \u2018boom, boom, boom,\u2019\u201d Tom Hahn said. \u201cLuckily, it didn\u2019t start to move. It stayed put. It probably would have slammed us into one of the cabins, which would have been OK. At least it didn\u2019t put us in the river.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aaron and Rachel Carter, along with their children \u2013 ages 1, 3 and 8 \u2013 were visiting from Denver. When the floods began, the kids took shelter in the campground\u2019s game room, but debris quickly blocked the door.<\/p>\n<p>They got out, but Aaron said they had to wade through knee-deep mud to get to higher ground.<\/p>\n<p>Anastasia and Colin Emms had just arrived at the campground when the rains started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe checked in, got into the cabin, sat down and the next thing we know, this stream came rolling down the road,\u201d Colin said.<\/p>\n<p>Anastasia said it looked like a river flowing through the campground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom \u2013 I sent her a picture and she was like, \u2018Oh is that the river or is that the flood?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018No that\u2019s just the flood.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meteorologist Clark said the chance of rain strong enough to trigger flooding and debris flows is in the forecast Friday through Monday.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=75cae1f6-48da-4de0-8a53-3cbf42c7eeea&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=75cae1f6-48da-4de0-8a53-3cbf42c7eeea&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=75cae1f6-48da-4de0-8a53-3cbf42c7eeea&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=75cae1f6-48da-4de0-8a53-3cbf42c7eeea&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" alt=\"A map shows the area affected by mudslides, rockslides and flooding Tuesday night.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A map shows the area affected by mudslides, rockslides and flooding Tuesday night.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of La Plata County<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:rsimonovich@durangoherald.com\">rsimonovich@durangoherald.com<\/a>. Herald Staff Writer Patrick Armijo contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>heavy rain caused flooding because of fire-scarred land, campers recount the deluge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[2838,1497,13,199,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-98663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-416-fire","tag-flood","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98663","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=98663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98663"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=98663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}