Residents living beneath the imposing red cliffs that border East Animas Road north of Durango had the same story Thursday – pouring rain, pounding hail, crashing boulders and oozing mud.
Only their words differed as they described the sudden, fast-moving storm that left houses wrecked, yards full of debris and 10 to 12 feet of muck, including boulders as big as a car on East Animas Road (County Road 250).
“I live out here and found 2.65 inches of rain in my gauge,” said Butch Knowlton, director of the La Plata County Office of Emergency Management. “Another resident reported 3.1 inches.”
“It all fell in 45 minutes,” Knowlton said. “If you had looked at the cliffs at the height of the storm, you wouldn't have seen them. It would have been like looking at Niagara Falls.”
The section of East Animas Road hit hardest was in the 3700 block, where Woodard Canyon channeled torrents of water carrying mud and boulders onto the road.
“The boulders were so huge that even our biggest equipment struggled to move them,” Knowlton said.
At Linnaea Farms, Marje Cristol was digging out with the help of more than a half-dozen friends and neighbors. Three feet of mud had built up against a chicken pen and a hoop house sheltering flowers. A flower bed out in the open was beyond help, buried under inches of mud.
“We had a flood of water, but also a flood of people to help us,” Cristol said. “It's all part of farming.”
Cristol, a physician who left her practice for a time to raise goats and sell cheese, said the storm apparently scared the milk out of her 14 goats.
“We usually get 50 pounds of milk every morning,” Cristol said. “This morning I got 30 pounds.”
A few doors down, Rick Unruh, a principal in R&R Handyman Services, contemplated the damage to a house he was preparing for rental by an out-of-town owner.
He pointed uphill to where a berm that was supposed to check the flow of water had succumbed to pressure.
“We have three feet of mud up against the house,” he said. “The mud went around the corner and got into the garage.”
Insurance adjusters, Red Cross workers, an Atmos Energy employee and La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff, who is gathering information for a report to board colleagues, worked their way around county crews clearing East Animas Road with heavy equipment.
Cindi Shank, director of the Red Cross office in Durango, said she would share what she learned with the county. She plans to buy shovels for a brigade of volunteers who want to join the cleanup effort.
Scott Dehnisch was at his father's house, where boulders had broken a retaining wall uphill from the residence. One boulder had flipped over the wall and landed against the house.
Mud and water reached above a living room window, but didn't break the glass, Dehnisch said. Mud also pushed under the garage door.
“At least we didn't lose the house,” Dehnisch said.
Debris removal weeks away
Knowlton said county crews face days of work to restore East Animas Road to its normal width. It will be even longer, weeks, before the debris is dry enough to remove to a couple of county gravel pits, he said.
“We can't leave it at the side of the road because it would interfere with snow removal later,” Knowlton said.
Road and bridge crews worked overnight to clear mud and rock from several major roads that became blocked Wednesday night after the sudden rainstorm swept through La Plata County.
Knowlton said he was alerted about 3 p.m. Wednesday by the National Weather Service about a brewing storm. At 5 p.m., he was told the storm could be a dilly, with heavy rain and hail.
A half-hour later it arrived, with torrential rain, lightning and, in some neighborhoods, golf ball-sized hail. The storm caused power outages, landslides and a house fire.
Crews worked until 1:30 a.m. Thursday to open a single lane through the debris flow on East Animas Road.
East Animas Road was widened to two lanes by Thursday afternoon, but it is closed to all but local traffic from the 2600 block to the 5000 block at Trimble Lane, according to a news release from La Plata County.
“Unless you have to go there, we're asking the public to stay out,” Knowlton said. “If you do go, drive slowly and watch for equipment, please.”
Night of Madness
Directly across the valley, Mike LaForest, owner of Mountain Madness Pizza Pub, was overseeing the cleanup of his establishment, which was slugged by twin flows of water and mud coming off the bluff to the west.
One flow entered the main entrance, the other through a downstairs door of the business, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 550 and County Road 203. Water also seeped through the upstairs floor to the basement that houses the kitchen and space for private events.
LaForest said drains that carry rain off his property became plugged with mud and quickly funneled flow into the establishment.
“We had 15 to 20 patrons when the debris came in the door,” LaForest said. “We had to evacuate them.”
LaForest expects to reopen within a week.
The runoff also caused damage, including broken windows, in two houses immediately across County Road 203 from the pizza outlet.
“I bought the best insurance available, but it didn't include flood coverage,” LaForest said. “My insurance agent told me, 'You're covered from top to bottom,' but I didn't think about flood insurance, and he didn't, either.”
LaForest said he would have had to go through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get flood insurance.
Road repair to continue
Knowlton had a word of caution for motorists. There will be heavy equipment working in the stretch of County Road 203 near Mountain Madness. Take it easy there, he said.
All other county roads affected by Wednesday night's storm opened for two lanes of traffic as of Thursday morning. Road repair will continue on County Road 240 as well as 250 and 203.
County roads 245, 247 (which branch off of 240) and County Road 501, which links Bayfield and Vallecito, were also affected by rain and debris flow. All were reopened Wednesday night.
La Plata County residents who had damage to their home are asked to call the La Plata County Building Department at 382-6250 for assistance.
Motorists should drive slowly and carefully as they may encounter debris on the roads, officials said. Motorists should never drive into areas where the debris covers the road. The depth may be too great to allow for a safe crossing.
daler@durangoherald.com
