Assessments and discussions have followed the historic floods that took place on Oct. 11 and 14, with several governmental entities continuing to work to determine the extent of the damage caused by the floods and their effects on the area.
Pagosa Country experienced two historic floods in four days thanks to moisture from the remnants of a pair of tropical storms, Priscilla and Raymond.
The flooding for the San Juan River at Pagosa Springs peaked at 8,270 cubic feet per second (cfs) and 12.66 feet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 11 and again at 8,560 cfs and 12.82 feet at 5:15 a.m. on Oct. 14, putting the two events as the fourth and third highest on record, behind floods in October 1911 and June 1927.
Other area river levels were also significantly impacted, including the Piedra and Blanco rivers.
Area river levels have continued to decline since Oct. 14, with the San Juan River at Pagosa Springs running at 537 cfs and 5.52 feet as of noon on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
That compares to a median of 88.00 cfs for the same date and a mean of 143.67 cfs.
The increased moisture has also led to a significant increase in the level of Navajo Lake Reservoir.
On Oct. 9, Navajo was at 6,020.44 feet elevation. By Oct. 21, that had increased by 12.10 feet to 6,032.54, according to the Lake Navajo Water Database. It remains 52.46 feet below full pool, or 6,085 feet elevation.
It remains down 8.51 feet from a year prior.
The database shows that total inflows for water year 2026, which began on Oct. 1, are at 421.49 percent of the average, and the rivers feeding Navajo are running at 147.04 percent of average.
The storms also helped area drought.
As of Oct. 14, the last update available by the U.S. Drought Monitor, 65.53 percent of the county was abnormally dry or above, with 3.71 percent of the county falling into moderate drought.
A week, prior, 100 percent of the county was in moderate drought or above, with 30.18 percent being in severe drought or above, with 0.31 percent of that being in extreme drought.
But, while the affect of the flooding on area reservoirs and drought has been positive, local officials are determining the damage done elsewhere.
Additionally, multiple congressmen representing the area visited to tour the damage, with Rep. Jeff Hurd flying over the area and Sen. Michael Bennet touring a portion of the damage on the ground.
Town of Pagosa Springs
On Oct. 21, Town Manager David Harris updated the Pagosa Springs Town Council on the damages to town infrastructure caused by the recent flooding along the San Juan River, with an early “thumbnail sketch” assessment showing around $9 million worth of damages.
The major costs are associated with debris removal, riverbank stabilization, inflow and infiltration of unwanted water into the sewer system, 10th Street culvert replacement, sewer line replacement on the 1st Street bridge after the line was damaged by debris, and damages to a river restoration project that the town invested in some years ago, he explained.
Council member Leonard Martinez expressed worry that “we are understating the costs,” adding that he fears other hidden costs will mount as the town fully understands the damages to the already-struggling sewer system.
Harris and council member Gary Williams both expressed concern that the chance for the town to receive federal dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) might be at risk given the current political environment in Washington, D.C.
“We are in the unfortunate situation where federal money is not likely to be flowing very heavily or fast, and I’m very disappointed that our state representatives have not been more active in helping us here,” Williams added.
He wondered if the town should hire a “lobbyist” to help it navigate the state and federal systems to “prime the pump to make things happen.”
Public Works Director Karl Johnson explained that the main damage to the sewer system — the breakage and failure of the sewer main under the 1st Street bridge — has been stabilized with a bypass and that staff is considering getting power from a light pole near there instead of running an emergency generator.
Johnson added that his staff is thinking about a “long-term solution” to the bypass, but that any decision would need to be approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation since it is the owner and operator of the bridge.
At a tour of a portion of the flood damage with Bennet on Saturday, Oct. 18, Mayor Shari Pierce noted that no one within the town lost their home.
Archuleta County
During a regular work session held by the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) on Tuesday, Oct. 21, the board heard an update from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Regional Field Manager Riley Frazee on the recent flooding events in the county.
Frazee provided information on the damage that has occurred due to the flooding, data collection systems being used to track damage, and potential federal assistance for local governmental entities and homeowners affected.
Frazee explained that Homeland Security is using a system called Crisis Track, while also noting the county assessor’s office has been documenting damage, as well.
“Your county has bent over backwards for our needs,” Frazee said, noting that everyone in the county has been very helpful and accommodating.
Frazee indicated that 34 homes in Archuleta County were affected by the flooding events, with eight of those homes experiencing minor damage and just one with major damage.
He noted the home with major damage is located in the San Juan River Village subdivision.
Frazee explained that individual assistance from the federal government may be available for those homeowners.
He went on to mention the other type of federal assistance being pursued is public assistance in which the federal government will reimburse public entities “to get back to where they were before the disaster.”
Frazee noted that is a grant program where the federal government will provide 75 percent of those costs, with the county needing to provide the remaining 25 percent, unless the state comes up with some sort of cost-share program to assist the county.
Frazee also noted that damage caused in La Plata County was much the opposite of Archuleta County, with more private homes being affected than public infrastructure.
“We have government infrastructure impacted,” Frazee said of Archuleta County.
He then explained that the state indicator for being able to request assistance is $12 million, “so statewide for this event we have to have $12 million dollars worth of damage.”
He noted total damages in the county based off of initial assessments is around $13 million.
Of that $13 million, about $8.125 million is from the Town of Pagosa Springs and about $4 million is from damage to public roadways in Archuleta County.
Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux noted that there are still about 200 miles of secondary roadways to be assessed.
During the Oct. 18 tour with Bennet, Le Roux noted about 30 miles of primary county roads require “total reconstruction” and about 60 miles require significant patching and repair.
Frazee also mentioned that the San Juan River Village Metro District sustained sewer system and roadway damage of about $2 million, which also qualify as infrastructure.
He commented that the total amount of $13 million in damage is “good and bad,” in that it is bad to have so much damage, but “it’s also good that we’re about to that point” to be confident in asking for federal assistance.
Frazee expressed that entities and individuals “have to continue to do those assessments” by documenting and photographing initial damage.
He explained that the next step in the process will be having a federal, state and county representative reevaluate the initial damage assessments.
“Even though we’re at $13 million worth of damage, we want to make sure we’re above that so that if those numbers do come down, we have a buffer there,” he said.
Frazee explained that there is also a crisis cleanup system in place where voluntary organizations can register to help folks.
“It’s interesting. Your community, I believe, is very resilient,” he said, explaining a lot of people do not rely on the government “to do things for us,” noting that is also good and bad because that means not as many folks are registering into the databases, which can make it seem as there is not much damage.
Frazee also explained how there were two separate storm systems that moved through the area, technically causing two separate flooding events.
“Those are two different storm systems, so we should really have $12 million dollars worth of damage on each one of those storm systems,” he said, explaining that Colorado, and other states, have had success with FEMA in combining events, “‘cause they were so close together and consider them one event,” indicating that is the plan if the Homeland Security does request FEMA assistance.
He noted the Piedra River flooding was the highest on record, while the San Juan River flooding was the fourth and third highest on record, describing the disasters as “two significant events” that occurred back-to-back, being “really unusually unheard of” and indicating they have a good case in combining the events.
The Piedra River at Arboles, which was running at 1.05 feet and 79.7 cfs on Oct. 9, peaked at 5.86 feet and 4,680 cfs at 2:15 a.m. on Oct. 12 and 7.26 feet or 7,240 cfs at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 14.
Frazee also mentioned the Army Corps of Engineers has toured the San Juan River Village and is coming up with protective measures.
Le Roux explained that the Army Corps is providing temporary flood management, while the next potential flooding incident is likely not to occur until at least next spring with snowmelt.
Commissioner Veronica Medina praised the county assessor’s office staff, explaining that staff was on-site documenting both flooding events.
“Thats a huge shout-out for them,” she said.
Commissioner John Ranson asked how long it will take for the federal and state representatives to come in and reevaluate initial damage assessments, with Frazee explaining that they have 30 days from the end of the disaster to make a request to the president, noting that it started on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
“We’re on a timer,” he said.
Frazee also mentioned that private nonprofits and places of worship are eligible for public assistance, but that no private roadways are eligible.
“Private stuff is not eligible under the public assistance program,” he said, explaining that any road with a gate on it would not be eligible.
He also noted that homes are only eligible for private assistance “if they are primary residences.”
Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District
The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors heard an update on the recent flooding event and its impacts on the district’s infrastructure at an Oct. 15 special meeting.
PAWSD Operations Manager Andrew Connor provided the update, explaining that the district lost a water line near the 1st Street bridge over the San Juan River at about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 once water levels rose.
He stated that the line is placed in the river and that, once the break was detected, PAWSD staff isolated the broken line.
Connor explained that PAWSD has three lines that cross the river in downtown Pagosa Springs, including the line that was broken.
He indicated that the broken line was cut off before the area lost water pressure, but that the district lost about 750,000 gallons of water from tanks on Reservoir Hill and up Cemetery Road due to the breach.
About 20 customers lost service on Saturday night due to the break, Connor stated, but PAWSD was able to open an old bypass near the former Bob’s LP building on U.S. 160 and restore service by Sunday morning.
He indicated that additional work needed to be done on the bypass since it was running excessive pressure levels.
Connor stated that, due to the system remaining pressurized, the district did not have to impose any boil water notices, although such a notice was in place at San Juan River Village due to damage to its sewer system.
PAWSD Programs Manager Renee Lewis commented that the boil water notice posted by Archuleta County was somewhat unclear about what it applied to and that PAWSD had issued additional clarification about the situation to its customers.
Connor stated that the impact of the Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (PSSGID) experiencing a sewer line rupture on Oct. 15 near the 1st Street bridge was mitigated by PAWSD having shut down its water intake taking water from the San Juan River downstream for treatment and use as drinking water on the Oct. 10.
He noted that the intake taking water from the San Juan River for use at PAWSD’s Snowball Water Treatment Plant was regularly plugging due to high levels of sediment and debris in the water and was having to be cleared every few hours.
Connor added that the district also experienced two water line breaks in the line running from the river to the Snowball plant.
He noted that, due to the district shutting its diversions before the storms started, the amount of sediment the district’s water plants are having to remove is low, although the Snowball plant will have to process a large “plug” of sediment from the storms once the diversions are reopened.
“It’ll be a true stress test for that,” Connor said.
He stated that PAWSD’s Vista wastewater treatment plant was at 100 percent capacity on Oct. 14 and treated approximately 5 million gallons of water that day.
Connor added that PAWSD also had one lift station struck by lightning and a loss of power at another, both of which caused wastewater spills.
However, he indicated that he spoke to staff at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which manages wastewater spills, and they indicated that the district should continue with “business as usual” although it would have to submit reports for the spills.
“That’s just what’s gonna happen,” Connor said. “It’s an incredible amount of water comin’ to us. There’s not much we can do about that, but, overall, the system has handled this stress.”
He added that the storms were useful in highlighting key areas where repairs to wastewater collection system are needed and where large amounts of water are infiltrating into the system.
“I appreciate everybody’s work,” said PAWSD board member Alex Boehmer. “I know Sunday was a rough day, and I went out and there were PAWSD trucks everywhere and there were guys working. Cold, wet, muddy. I really appreciate the effort put in by all the PAWSD employees for that. That was a tremendous turnout that we had.”
>