Dive Summary:
- Floods running at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado are devastating communities and the grid. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle has warned residents to evacuate or face weeks without electricity and running water.
- “We're not trying to force anyone from their home. We're not trying to be forceful, but we're trying to be very factual and definitive about the consequences of their decision, and we hope that they will come down,” Sheriff Pelle said.
- President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration and ordered emergency federal aid. Four people have died and over one thousand are unaccounted for.
- According to Xcel Energy Colorado's Facebook page, there are still many people without power in the flooded area, although the exact number is unclear.
8K outages bc of #boulderflood, per @XcelEnergyCO
— Kelly Werthmann (@KellyCBS4) September 13, 2013
From the article:
It is the worst flooding to hit the state since 1976, when nearly 150 people died in Larimer County in a flash flood along the Big Thompson Canyon.