Second flood in Durango in 10 days

 I give some shots of the Monday, Nov 2 recent flooding around southwest Colorado. You can skip this post if you're tired of seeing floods. I don't think I'll have another one (unless the rains come again) Starting off today with Pagosa Springs on the San Juan River...

I'm pretty sure this is the floating house which slammed into a bridge and shattered to pieces in a split second. I couldn't find the video of that.

This is probably in Pagosa Springs, CO on the San Juan River.

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One of the many roads that will need major repair work.

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I think this is Junction Creek in Durango.

The rest of these shots are of the flood from Junction Creek, which flows into the Animas River in Durango.

Monday morning Colorado state transportation map of Durango with closed roads and those with limited visibility...the pink one goes out to the hospital, the red closed section goes west to Cortez, where my son said they didn't have any bad flooding. Most of the rivers crested during Monday.

I included a video of these Junction Creek streets on a blog before.

Why do I save these?

I went back to see some of the damage from the floods around Asheville NC 2 years ago yesterday. The memories had actually become less severe until I saw those photos again. It's like childbirth. You just somehow forget the pain.

The cleanup begins. Again.

These people may not have had the back breaking cleanup from a flood before. As a matter of fact, they were completely unprepared for one. They have lived with constant drought for years. A flood on Oct 23 and then another more severe one completely unexpected on Nov. 2...just too much!

Hermosa Creek is in "the valley" north of Durango, but still considered part of it. 

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There's a nice new subdivision and a golf course nearby.

The Dalton Ranch Golf Club was the site where the hot air balloons took off a couple of weeks ago.

Removing debris from rivers and creeks is a safety effort to keep them from destroying bridges further downstream.

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This must have been posted before the first flood, because no trains have tried going as far as Silverton since the end of October.

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It didn't feel right to try to go take more photos myself. The first responders were asking for people to stay home, no matter where you lived. So I did. Fortunately we kept electricity. My cousin in South Carolina texted to make sure I was alright. He had been my refuge 2 years ago when we lost water, cell service, and electricity in North Carolina. I was so relieved to not have those situations here, because there wasn't any way I could get to my son's house on the one road from Durango to Cortez. But it was opened later on that Monday.

Many of these photos are saved as screen shots from "Reels on FB."

And I've also learned that telling the story does help me deal with the emotions around a traumatic event. Swallowing my emotions has never been a healthy way for me to live. Having a more positive outlook doesn't necessarily mean ignoring the bad things that happen.

 These photos may not be mine, but my sharing them here is my way of releasing the fears, the awe at nature's powers, and the sense of my smallness in the face of unexpected events.

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Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.

BRENÉ BROWN