Extra! Flooded Animas River

 3 inches of rain in Durango over Wednesday and Thursday. But the creeks and rivers in the mountains also contributed to the swirling brown waters of the Animas River.

First to let you know, all is dry and safe here in Durango old town. There are areas where flooding has occurred nearby...Pagosa Springs is on a different river, the San Juan River, which flooded some homes and the actual springs. It's 60 miles away on roads that are not passable to get to the town at this point.

There is water on the train tracks so the Durango-Silverton train was cancelled today while repairs are being made.

Some roads and highways out past the city of Durango have damages as well. Fortunately it hasn't rained but just sprinkled today, Friday.

I saw from my living room window the white leaps of water in an area at a distance that I couldn't capture with the iPhone.

Wednesday we had heavy storms off and on, continuing on Thursday.

Friday without rain, but white water is hurling up just past that stop sign and the sign at an angle.

The motion of the water caught my eye...just beyond the two people walking.

So I hopped in my car and drove over the 3 blocks to Rotary Park. I've given you photos of the river there before...and here's the bench I sat in for lunch one day. The firemen came just ahead of me, glad probably not to have to rescue anyone. I parked illegally, and noticed lots of people biking and walking to see this amazing flood.

 This is what the railroad bridge looked like the last time I visited.

Friday at 3:18 pm from the pedestrian  bridge. 

Sam R. Bibo shared this shot from around 10 am this morning on FB.

The water was still rising - Sam Bibo's shot.

The Durango Herald published this:

La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith closed the Animas River to all watercraft on Friday. The river reached 10,600 cubic feet per second as of 11:30 a.m., and the county didn’t want to expend any resources on a potential water rescue when personnel is needed in other parts of the county, said Emily Spencer, spokeswoman with La Plata County.

By comparison, the high flow this summer on the Animas barely broke 1,400 cfs on May 15, and the historical median for Oct. 23 on is about 300 cfs.

The storm dumped about 3 inches of moisture Thursday in Durango and about 5 inches in and around Pagosa Springs, said Brooke Scholtens, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction. Some locations in the southern San Juan Mountains also received up to 5 inches of rain, she said.

The storm came courtesy of Hurricane Trudy, which was spinning in the Eastern Pacific Ocean before being downgraded to a tropical storm, she said. Remnants of that storm were carried inland by rotating southwesterly winds, Scholtens said.

“When that happens, we have moisture advection that comes from the southwest into the Four Corners area, which makes for a pretty good setup for that area to receive a good amount of rain,” she said.

 A flood watch remains in effect until noon Sunday.

“Once this system moves out, we’re going to have another low-pressure system that comes in,” Scholtens said. “… With that, we’re going to be seeing those cold frontal passages.”

Between 3:15 and 3:45 the pedestrian bridge had a crowd on it, such that bicycles couldn't ride across for all the people in the way.

One of the first things I noticed was the carcass of a deer on the lowest struts of the railroad bridge with its head hanging just over the water. Perhaps it floated there when the water was higher.

Looking downstream from the pedestrian bridge.

Same view on September 20.

I hope blogger will publish this video. This moving water is awesome, in a not too pleasant way.

I do hope this is a once in a lifetime occurrence..and that the forecast for more rain will not make this a regular event. 

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On a more personal level, I found some waterproof shoes today, and took back the boots I'd not liked. Spent even more money, but these are considered waterproof, not just water resistant. We shall see...

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Posting this tonight so more people might be able to see what's really happening here.

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In the face of horrors visited upon our world daily, in the struggle to protect our loved ones, choosing to let in joy is a revolutionary act. Joy returns us to everything that is good and beautiful and worth fighting for.

VALARIE KAUR