Boulder County
May 17, 1995

Front Range from Greeley to Pueblo
June 2-8, 1995

Colorado experienced a very wet and cool May and June. In Boulder, May was the wettest month ever recorded with 18.23 inches of precipitation and it rained on all but four days that month. Colorado Springs received twice the normal May precipitation. The persistent rains resulted in localized flooding all along the Front Range on several occasions during the months of May and June. The flooding was caused by a combination of already high stream levels with heavy rain events on saturated soils. Communities from Lyons to Pueblo experienced basement and street flooding.

The heavy rains in Boulder on May 17 caused minor stream flooding. A bridge was washed out northwest of Boulder on Fourmile Canyon Creek. A second bridge was washed out in Larimer County just outside of the town of Lyons. To the east, the South Platte overflowed its banks and flooded some fields between Greeley and Kersey. The rains were caved in a parking lot near a creek in Golden and washed out a 50-foot section of road in Westminster

The town of Lyons experienced flooding on May 27 when the St. Vrain River spilled over its banks. Four residential blocks were evacuated and some major thoroughfares were washed out. Residences adjacent to the creek were flooded by as much as four feet of water. In eastern Boulder County on June 8 about 100 yards of Burlington Northern Railroad track collapsed into the Saint Vrain River causing the derailment of two empty railcars after the rising waters eroded the railbed along a stretch near the Boulder/Weld county line. 

During the first few weeks of June, Georgetown was menaced by high waters on Clear Creek. There was no major damage, but basements were flooded and nerves were high as the citizens of Georgetown spent several days sandbagging the creek.

The heavy rains over southwest Denver County on June 4 caused police to shut down part of Hampden Avenue in Englewood to deal with 25 to 35 cars stalled in several feet of water. The rain also caused widespread basement flooding in the area.

On June 7-8, more flooding hit the Ft. Lupton and Greeley areas. Several intersections and streets were flooded with up to 3 feet of water in Ft. Lupton. Several roads were flooded in the western part of Greeley and Highway 34 near Kersey was flooded by the South Platte River. In Gilcrest, 10 miles south of Greeley, a mobile home park was flooded by overland flow from an adjacent flooded farm field. At least 4 feet of water flooded the area and about 100 people were evacuated. An estimated 1,000 acres of cropland in northeastern Colorado was flooded along the South Platte River, with at least $10 million in damages.

In the Arkansas River valley on June 2, there was widespread flooding in eastern Colorado Springs and in eastern El Paso County. Roads were washed out by flooding to the south and east of the town of Ramah. Damage was especially severe along Black Squirrel and Bracket Creeks. This event caused $1 million in property damage. On June 3 in Pueblo, torrential rain and hail caused some street and basement flooding.

During the months of May and June several locales along the Front Range were plagued by mud and rockslides. The slides were responsible for closing portions of U.S. Highways 6, 24, 40, and State Highway 119 for a few hours at a time.

Five deaths were attributed to the floods. Four of the five victims were boating on rivers swollen with runoff. A fifth person accidentally drove his car into the rushing Arkansas River.

Rainfall Data:

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