It had rained hard for the last few days, but on Sept. 11, 2013, not many people thought much of weather. It was Colorado, rain was good. Plus, it was September, when the height of runoff is well passed and the fall foliage is on the way.
“I don’t think any of us were [expecting the flood],” said Estes Park Town Administrator Frank Lancaster. “I think it hit all of us by surprise, you don’t expect it in September, usually by that time you feel you are safe [from flood danger].”
Yet when Lancaster and other residents of Estes Park woke up the next morning—many from early morning texts and phone calls, the streets were flooded and lives were forever changed. Unknown to most at first light, U.S. 34, U.S. 36 and Colo. 7 had sustained so much damage that it had been closed, around 1 a.m. the morning of Sept. 12.
“I remember my wife and I had dinner at Oskar Blues that night [of Sept. 11], and coming up the canyon it was raining quite a bit, but, OK, no big deal,” Lancaster said. “Then I got a phone call in the night…and all hell broke loose for about a week there.”
By the time the sun rises, the only way into Estes Park is the highest continuous paved road in America, Trail Ridge Road, which was closed shortly after the flood due to snowfall. Businesses were flooded, homes, cars and property were destroyed and canyon residents were stranded.
Laura Emerson, living near Sleepy Hollow Park on U.S. 34, had friends visiting from Florida for that fateful week, and they had been bemoaning the rainy weather.
“I was in Longmont on that Wednesday [Sept. 11] and it was just pouring,” Emerson said. “But rain is good right? But the next morning at 6 a.m. I got the reverse 911 call.”
She came out to water in her front yard, and told her company to pack up and get to Loveland, where their son lived.
“They didn’t tell us they were releasing water from Lake Estes, and I didn’t know the road was already closed—I didn’t even think flood,” Emerson said.
Her friends got stranded in Drake, dodging boulders in the road as they made their way. They eventually were helicoptered out, but their car was stuck there for six weeks until it could be moved.
Emerson’s cabin, built by her uncle 100 years ago the year of the flood, was not a victim of the rising water, but her two vehicles and her bridge were. The dirt her vehicles rested on was washed away, leaving them sitting on boulders and bedrock.
“We had to rebuild our whole road and didn’t get our vehicles out until the following August,” Emerson said. “We had bought new vehicles by then.”
She was lucky to have a generator, and could see the devastation across the state on television.
“At one point we had these guide wires holding up our power pole,” Emerson said. “The river was so high the trees caught in them and I could see the power lines [arching] and eventually it broke off.”
She spelled out “OK” in bedsheets across in the backyard to signal search parties. Firefighters eventually helped her across her washed away bridge with a ladder, and after a short time in Estes Park, she left Colorado to stay in Nevada with her husband. She ended up returning to her home a few days later, driving over Trail Ridge to get there. She had to stay at Murphy’s River Lodge for 20 days until she could move back home.
She lost an historic cabin, finding a inspection notice from a building inspector from Rifle, Colo., just one of many who came to Estes to help with the relief effort. She said that she easily had over $100,000 worth of damage and loss. She said that before the disaster she didn’t know how to prepare for a flood, but now she even keeps “go bags” in her living room, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
On the other hand, Estes Park town staff had been preparing for an event just like this, long before the waters rose.
Before the flood, and even before Lancaster had become town administrator, he and a large group from Larimer County government, including a number of Estes Park employees, had traveled to Emmittsburg, Maryland to take part in training with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
“We spent a week getting trained on emergency procedures. We had people from Estes Park, Fort Collins, Loveland and it was great because in an emergency, everyone has to work together,” Lancaster said. “Having been through that training together, even though I [wasn’t working in Estes Park at the time] but having gone through it with them [was vital].”
The Town quickly set up an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and assigned roles. Lancaster said each person was pulled out of their positions and given a job, like communications, logistics, response, etc. They met every morning as a team, putting together an action plan for each day, who was going to do what and where.
“The [FEMA training system] really works well, and it helped to have people trained and we were able to hit the ground running,” Lancaster said. “It was still chaos though, because you can’t plan for everything.”
Human safety was the first priority. Lancaster and his staff needed to figure out where roads needed to be closed, who needed to be rescued and how to get food and medical treatment to people were just a few of the issues they faced.
Communication was almost completely cut off, except for some internet, and one microwave link that Town staff found in a closet in Town Hall. The Town website was also updated, letting other communities know the status of Estes Park.
It was still extremely dangerous though, during those few days in Sept. 2013. Lancaster can recount an incident of him and the public works director walking along pavement on Brodie Avenue when he realized there was no earth under that pavement and could have easily fallen in. Or when he spoke with a man who thought he had fallen into a snake-filled sinkhole on the flooded riverwalk. When the waters receded, it was discovered that the man had fallen into an electrical vault in the ground, whose doors had floated open, and the snakes he was feeling were actually electrical lines.
While Estes residents were trying to limit damage, the Trail-Gazette was trying to document the flood event. Former editor John Cordsen and photographer Walt Hester were out covering whatever they could, sending photos and videos to publisher Mike Romero who was posting each online and sharing on Facebook. Once there was the ability to get to Estes Park along Colo. 7, staff members who lived out of town were able to make to long trek each day. The Trail was able to publish the next edition by transporting the papers via the Peak to Peak Highway. Late but they made it.
“I am really thankful for the dedication of our staff members, with John [Cordsen] and Walt [Hester] here in town working long hours to keep the world informed with the help of local Leslie Dawson. And then there was David Persons, Mike O’Flaherty and myself driving all the way through Blackhawk to get here each day. Over 140 miles one way…I think it just shows the dedication they had through these trying times,” Romero said.
The crisis was not over once the waters receded, and it was months before some could even flush their toilets. Many were subject to no flush zones, because the sewer system had completely washed away.
“It was wiped out,” Lancaster said. “The sewer system for Upper Thompson Sanitation which comes down Fish Creek was just gone, in pieces in Lake Estes.”
Porta potties were trucked in as from as far away as Phoenix. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, and Estes Park made the best of it. Lancaster said that no big town events were cancelled, Elk Fest still went on, albeit with a smaller crowd. There were even porta potty contests and outhouse themed floats in the Catch the Glow parade over the holidays.
“There was a lot of neighbor helping neighbor,” Lancaster said. “We really needed the community to help each other too, and they absolutely did.”
The same can be said for canyon residents. Before the flood, Emerson said that not many knew each other, but after the natural disaster, they have become much closer. Many got evacuated when the U.S. Army and Colorado National Guard sent seven helicopters to rescue residents.
Emerson eventually started a couple of Facebook groups to coordinate information with canyon residents and they recently had a pot luck to celebrate surviving the flood, getting to know each other and also the end to canyon closures, which were eight month closures for consecutive years.
The events of five years ago have left permanent memories for all who experienced it, and after years of recovery, the work still continues.
“It is amazing to think about how just a few days of rain could change people’s lives so much for five years,” Lancaster said.
