Since the floods first struck in north east Colorado on 12th September:
- 17 counties have been affected:
Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, Clear Creek, Denver, El Paso, Fremont, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Pueblo, Otero, Washington, Weld, Sedgewick - There have been 6 fatalities – 3 in Boulder, 2 in El Paso, 1 in Clear Creek
- 306 people are still reported as missing (as of September 19th 2013)
- The floods have affected an area estimated to be 4,500 square miles – roughly the size of Jamaica
- 12,118 people are under mandatory evacuation orders
- 1,000 people had to be airlifted to safety from remote locations, the largest airlift resuce operation in USA since Katrina
- 1,502 homes destroyed, 17,494 homes damaged
(Colorado Office of Emergency Management estimates) - 30 (state-maintained) bridges destroyed, 20 (state-maintaned) bridges damaged
(according to Colorado Department of Transportation)
Record Rainfall
Using figures for Boulder as a guideline, there have been record amounts of rainfall in the last few days.
- On September 12th, Boulder received 9.08 inches of rain, twice the previous record amount of 4.8 inches in 1919
- Current monthly rainfall amount for Boulder is 17.18 inches. Previous highest September rainfall was 5.5 inches in 1940
- The current yearly total rainfall for 2013 (up til 16th September) is 30.14 inches, the highest amount of any previous year (and still 3 months to go)
- Previous record amounts were 29.93 inches in 1995 and 29.03 inches in 1938
Some estimates put the total cost of the damage of the Colorado floods at over $1 billion, twice the amout that either storm Wilma or storm Isaac cost the state of Florida.
