4 minute read
Storm season — the good, bad and ugly
and must look at minor and major storms.
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When it provides vibrant green grass, supports the growth of native wild owers and feeds our reservoirs, there is beauty in rain. But it also comes with a dark side as storms can wreak havoc and damage homes, vehicles and roadways.
is spring, parts of the Denver metro area saw record breaking amounts of rain along with a longer and more consistent rain pattern.
“It’s almost biblical in nature,” said Bryan Weimer, Arapahoe County director of public works and development.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Douglas, Arapahoe and Je erson counties have seen rainfall above average.
Over the past 129 years, Douglas County saw its fourth wettest May on record with 3.63 inches above normal, making it the 13th wettest year on record.
Arapahoe County saw its fth wettest May with 3.29 inches of rain above normal and Je erson County saw its 7th wettest May with 2.28 inches of rain above normal.
While some may have loved the gloomy days, listening to the sound of rain falling, for others, it posed an ongoing issue as well as citizen safety.
Roadway damage
When looking at the infrastructure of roadways, Matt Williams, the Douglas County assistant director of public works engineering said there are drainage design standards and criteria that engineers must follow ere are di erent types of cracking in roadways and when water in ltrates the subgrade and people start driving over it, the asphalt starts to move around and breaks up, causing a pothole.
As rain persisted, streets ooded, cracks in the road turned into potholes and sinkholes began to open in various counties.
According to Weimer, Arapahoe County has dealt with an increasing number of potholes.
“Our potholes overall through the second quarter are up almost 70%,” said Weimer. “ ey’re at 69% of what we experience and just looking at quarter two - when we were receiving all this rain - is up 103% from the previous year.”
In addition, Weimer said since May 11 the county is approaching a total of 15 roadway closures, with some already repaired.
Operations Manager Carlos Atencio of Je erson County roads and bridges said this season has felt like chasing their own tails due to the consistency of the rains.
In the beginning of the spring, Jefferson County maintenance crews focus on drainage issues caused by runo from the mountain snow. ey are cleaning ditches and getting ready to resurface roads.
“When a storm comes in, typically what that does is it completely unravels everything, all the work that we’ve done,” said Atencio. “And for every storm that comes in, it just compounds that problem. Our district supervisors know where the problems are, so they know exactly where to go after a storm to get the crews back out.”
Atencio said this does take away and delay some of the pothole patching.
Douglas County’s Assistant Director of Operations of Public Works
Daniel Roberts said the department has not seen a signi cant increase in pavement damage due to the moisture and no signi cant ooding impacts have hit the major roadways.
When it comes to repairs, public works has to wait for water levels to go down.
“Just because the weather looks better doesn’t mean that we’re able to get in and x it yet,” said Anders Nelson, Arapahoe County public information o cer. “ ey have to wait for the right conditions to make sure that it’s a solid x.” ere is also the potential for a total washout of a roadway.
“It may be a size of a storm that is greater than that culvert could handle,” said Weimer. “It could be debris that blocks the culvert, once the water starts building up, then it starts over owing the roadway and then starts eating back on that road and potentially fails.”
Culvert failures were the primary source behind the numerous sinkholes in June.
On June 11 a sinkhole opened on the shoulder of a rural road southeast of the Town of Parker, resulting in authorities having to close Flintwood Road.
Heavy rainfall also led to another sinkhole to open in the Town of Parker on June 11 which has indenitely closed down Bradbury Ranch Drive. On the bad side, the repairs are likely going to cost more than $300,000.
June 12, the City of Littleton closed Jackass Hill Road inde nitely following a sinkhole that collapsed under a moving car.
During a storm on June 22, a sinkhole on Oxford Avenue opened, resulting in a road closure from Santa Fe Drive to Windermere/Navajo streets in Englewood.
In Douglas County, the department has been videotaping the storm sewers for the past ve years to manage the pipes.
“We were videotaping those because our infrastructure is starting to get to that age, so we just want to make sure that we can avoid a sinkhole in the future,” said Williams.
As this is a semi-arid region of the country, Williams said that it’s not common to see standing water around but with the back to back storms the area has had, residents are going to see it for some time.
“Our storm drainage system is functioning exactly how it’s designed to function,” said Williams.
Home and vehicle damage and bodily harm e damage caused by rain and thunderstorms has also impacted residents’ homes in various ways as well as vehicles and has currently proven to cause bodily harm.
Large hail is not the only source of bodily harm, mosquitos enhance the possibility of an increase in West Nile virus cases.
Dr. Mark Montano, medical director of CareNow Urgent Care Clinics, said the added rainfall this spring means residents should think about mosquito bite prevention.
Although some say it is a pretty light show, lightning strikes are hard to prevent. First responders have responded to lightning strikes.
On June 11, South Metro Fire Rescue shared on social media when they responded to a residential re
