Severe Weather and Wildfire Preparedness Week continues through Saturday. The topic for today is Flooding and Flash Flooding. In Colorado river floods occur most often in association with the snowmelt in May and June. The flash flood season extends from May to September, with July and August as the prime months for Flash Flooding.
Flash flooding can occur anywhere in the state.
A flash flood refers to a dangerous sudden rise in water along a stream, river, wash, or over a normally dry land area. Flash floods result from heavy rainfall, river ice jams, snowmelt, and dam or levee failures. Flash floods can occur within a few minutes or hours, and can move at surprisingly high speeds, striking with little warning. They can erode an entire mountain side, roll boulders the size of trucks, tear out trees, destroy buildings, wash out roads and bridges and cause loss of lives. Rain weakened soils can also result in mud slides capable of closing interstates.