natural disaster

1. What and Why it Happened & How You Can Help

2. Where is Colorado?

3. Colorado’s Rivers

4. What is a Watershed?
 A watershed, also referred to as a
“drainage basin,” is an area of land
from which rainfall and/or
snowmelt drains into a stream or
other water body.
 Ridges of higher ground generally
form the boundaries between
watersheds.
 At these boundaries, rain falling on
one side flows toward the low point
of one watershed, while rain falling
on the other side of the boundary
flows toward the low point of a
different watershed.
 Large watersheds are usually
composed of several smaller “sub-
sheds.”

5. St. Vrain (Creek)River
• tributary of South Platte
River formed by the
confluence of North and
South St. Vrain creeks at
Lyons
• 32.2 miles (51.8 km) long
• drains part of the foothills
north of Boulder and the
Colorado Piedmont area in
the vicinity of Longmont
• joins the South Platte from
the west
• St. Vrain Creek is joined by
Left Hand Creek south of
Longmont and Boulder Creek
east of Longmont

6. CO’s History of Floods
• Arapaho warned the palefaces
swarming into Colorado. After
seeing the whites building in
the dry bed of Cherry Creek,
Chief Little Raven described
for the newcomers how floods
crashed down the creek
unexpectedly.
• Denver's first deadly flood
struck on the night of May 19,
1864.
• Nathan A. Baker "I looked out
of the window and saw a wall
of water six feet high rushing
down the dry creek bed at
terrific speed. Before we could
escape from the building, the
flood waters reached an
embankment connecting the
plant with the high shores of
the creek. In a few seconds we
were completely isolated, with
raging water surrounding the
building.“
• That 1864 flood killed 15 to 20
people and did an estimated $1
million worth of property
damage.

7. Images from the Flood

8. My parents’ yard

9. Cleaning up our
neighborhood

10. “Many hands make
light work”

11. CBS News Coverage

12. Why So Destructive? (Images)

13. Weather Patterns Gone Wild
 Counter-clockwise circulation pattern over the
western United States:
 Monsoonal flow not unusual in Colorado
during the heart of the summer; usually
dissipates by late Labor Day; this year it has
been on steroids
 Add an anticyclonic circulation (clockwise)
in the Midwest pushing water vapor into the
Front Range region as well.
 Two circulation patterns have come together
in just the right way and just the right time to
draw large amounts of water vapor into
Colorado.
 All of that water vapor pushed up against the
Front Range (the easternmost extent of the
Colorado Rockies) and has had trouble
getting over it.
 Additionally, stationary cold front moved in
from the north also tended to keep the
moisture pinned over CO.

14. “Rain, Rain, Everywhere…”
 Dr. Russ Schumacher, Assistant Professor of
Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University:
 “The main thing that occurred was just the huge amount
of rain over such a large area,"
 "As meteorologists in Colorado, the events we always
think about are the Big Thompson flood of 1976 or the
Fort Collins flood of 1997, and these are a lot of rain but
over a very localized area.”
 “The difference here is that the rain fell over entire
counties essentially at that same amount of rain, so it's
just an overwhelming amount of water for any of these
creeks or streams to handle."

15. Before & After Flood
 $148 million to repair damage
in Longmont ALONE
 2000 sq. miles of state
damaged
 8 deaths
 2000+ homes destroyed
 200+ miles of roadway
destroyed/damaged
 50 bridges impassible

16. How YOU Can Help!
Current Plan = 2-5pm Sunday, Nov. 3rd
Two musicians are lined up to play:
• Nate LaPointe
• Jodie Landau
Hoping to have ice cream donated…
Support Westridge’s Great Colorado Flood
Benefit Concert & Ice Cream Social:
• Make flyers & post around campus
• Educate your family and friends
• Invite family and friends to the event
• Create educational presentation for
the event
• Set-up and clean-up event
• Help serve ice cream at the event
• Perform poetry and/or music at the
event
• OTHER IDEAS???

17. Where Should We Donate?
 Longmont Humane Society: www.longmonthumane.org
 Kenneled over 230 animals during and after floods
 OUR Center: www.ourcenter.org
 The OUR Center is especially in need of cash donations now and into
the future, as we will be providing assistance not only to existing OUR
Center clients, but also to those who are turning to us for help as they
await emergency assistance from other agencies and/or to those whose
assistance runs out before they can get back on their feet. Particularly
with rent and utility assistance, there are unmet needs before and after
government assistance is available to flood survivors, and people look
to the OUR Center to fill those gaps.
 The Salvation Army: imsalvationarmy.org
 Help those affected during the days of storm ahead and during long-
term recovery. The Salvation Army uses 100 percent of your disaster
donations in support of local disaster relief operations.