Flooding In Park Hill: Then and Now
History Should Be A Lesson – But Is It?
By Brian Hyde
How long have you lived and/or worked in Park Hill? What was your reaction to the flooding that affected the bottomlands of our Greater Park Hill community on June 24? Do you think that event was an anomaly, just a freak event? Let’s highlight just a few of so many historic flooding events that have wreaked havoc in our neighborhood.
Historic Event #1
From the Rocky Mountain News on July 15, 1912 about a storm the day before: “At 23rd and Colorado Boulevard a lake 6-feet deep collected and stopped streetcar service almost the entire evening.”
And, a mention again about the July 15 storm, from the Rocky on Sept. 10, 1912: “When the cloudburst hit, City Park was covered with water nearly a foot deep, and more than 1,000 people rushed to wait for streetcars that never came.”
Historic Event #2
From a caption to a photo in the Rocky Mountain News on June 17, 1950, about a storm the day before: “Buses make like boats while plowing through the swirling waters which overran the curbings at East 23rd Avenue and Colorado Boulevard following yesterday’s deluge.”
Historic Event #3
From the Rocky Mountain News on July 10, 1953 about a storm the day before: “The airport weather station measured 1.05 inches, but it was on the fringe of the deluge. The heaviest concentrated rainfall reported in Denver … was 2.54 inches in two hours on August 23, 1921.”
Additional newspaper coverage of these devastating events from 1912, 1950 and 1953 describes the following scenarios:
• “Waves can be seen at E. Colfax Avenue and Grape Street, as every car with a still dry engine is converted into a power boat.”
• “East Colfax Avenue from Poplar Street west to Hudson Street awash in two to six feet of raging water … Pedestrians knocked off their feet as they tried to ford it.”
• “A blocks-long line-up of 21 stalled tram coaches at E. 17th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.”
• “Denver’s hospital area was threatened…in the wake of the torrential rains and flood waters … at Colorado General Hospital, where six feet of water cascaded into the basement of the power plant… At National Jewish Hospital … one kitchen worker … narrowly escaped drowning when he was trapped in the basement of the administration building … He smashed a window and crawled out … Moments later, the entire basement was filled with swirling brown water.” “Cars trapped in the ambulance entrance at National Jewish Hospital were completely underwater.”
An awful lot of the language could have described scenes in Park Hill from June 24 of this year.
These e-mail excerpts came to me from a fellow resident of Greater Park Hill who has clearly been having yet another challenging year.
From a June 10 e-mail, after a flood two weeks prior to the June 24 event:
“I live in North Park Hill, 33rd and Olive, and my street is plagued with horrendous street flooding … The water comes back out of the surrounding drains and heads toward my house, which unfortunately is at the lowest point of Olive. The street flooding wasn’t disclosed to me when I bought the house, my first house, so this has been a complete nightmare. A month after I moved in, a storm came through town. I was unaware of the flooding and therefore my roommate’s car was parked out front. It flooded. Almost $10,000 in water damage to her car. I shouldn’t have an anxiety attack every time I see storm clouds rolling over the mountains.
“My next door neighbor who has lived in his house since 1971 stated the streets have been flooding since then! How has the city gotten away with not doing anything and letting all the homes and homeowners suffer through these storms?? A few neighbors put up retaining walls in hopes of keeping the water away from their homes. Sunday’s storm sent water right over their walls. I had luckily yanked my carpet and pad out last weekend so I just used a wet dry vac and towels to clean up the water that soaked my basement. And still have fans blowing to prevent mold from growing.
“If my basement flooded due to the house’s drainage inadequacies that’s one thing. But the flooding is caused by the city’s known negligence! I even met a gentleman last fall who is in charge of these projects. He told me they have known of the problem for years, no kidding, but it was a cost issue and fiber optic lines that run along 33rd that pose a problem. Really? I was told there is a huge project underway regarding the drainage system in Park Hill, but on the south side of MLK. That does us zero good.
“I was so furious after Sunday, I sent an email and pictures/videos to every news station in town. Conveniently I received an email back from the city engineer I had met, telling me they are drawing up plans to replace the 12” pipes to 18” pipes. That’s not a solution, that is a bandaid to a much bigger issue.”
On June 26, two days after another disastrous deluge, resulting in flooding all over Park Hill, this same neighbor sent me another e–mail:
“I had 9” of water in my basement … The guys across and up the street had 4 feet of water. That is insane.
“I called a realtor yesterday because I am fed up and want out. His response was not favorable due to the water issue.”
So are we slow learners, stubborn, helpless in the face of Mother Nature’s outbursts, ignorant, or what?
After a long career in floodplain management at the state level, I must honestly say that I cannot answer that question without the help of others’ wisdom. I have seen the aftermath of small, medium and large flood events all over Colorado. One set of memories outside of Colorado truly stands out. I saw the Mississippi Gulf Coast up close the year before Hurricane Katrina as an attendee at a national flood conference. The next time I saw it was four months after Katrina, accompanying two of our three kids and the rest of a volunteer cleanup group of students spending Christmas break from Colorado College helping the good people of Gulfport and Biloxi. After that painful and powerful lesson, I still can’t fully answer my own question.
I can tell you that there are flooding problems (some of them severe and life-threatening) in the bottomlands of Park Hill, and that this year’s storms have simply reintroduced us to the need for us to do our share to make some big and some little (and also some medium) changes.
Brian Hyde is an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration. Contact him at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039
‘I Have Never Felt So Utterly Helpless’
Park Hill Couple Experiences Devastating Loss
By Cara DeGette
Editor
Nearly everything in Joy Warner and Richard Kruch’s home was submerged – destroyed or drenched – during the June 24 rain and hailstorm. (See photo on page 1.)
In their words, this is what happened: “It began hailing very hard and Joy headed downstairs due to a tornado warning. She saw water was coming into the garden level patio and the water began seeping in under the door. Within seconds, the water was at two feet outside on the patio, and flowing generously through all crevasses into the room. She ran upstairs to look out the front window and was horrified to see that the street had become a river/lake in front of the house, with rushing water flowing over the west end of the hedge into the basement patio.
“Joy ran back downstairs and as she turned the corner to go back into her studio the water smashed into her studio door, breaking it in half, rushing out into the hall. She grabbed a few things within reach and ran upstairs. When she went back down, to her horror she saw the water coming up the seven stairs from the basement to the ground level full of floating furniture, clothes, debris of the three rooms and the bathroom, etc.
“I have never felt so utterly helpless and ineffectual…in the face of the raw power of that water,” she wrote. “All I could do was stand there crying and praying that the water would stop before the top of the stairs. As it began to spread across the landing I grabbed a broom thinking I could use it to sweep the water out the back door. I opened the back door to discover the back yard was full of water too, up to the door sill!”
“Joy and Kruch are both retired. Joy was a teacher and Kruch a handyman and long time social justice activist. They have led lives dedicated to their local and larger communities. They thought this would be their forever home but now must reassess to see if it can be made safe. Eighty percent of their belongings were submerged. Of course, many things lost are irreplaceable and sadly their homeowners insurance will not cover any of the costs caused by the flooding.”
Since then, the couple has been working feverishly to salvage what they can. They launched a GoFundMe online fundraiser, with a goal of raising $10,000 to help them rebuild.
In 19 days, 140 people donated $11,835.