Reverse 911 Call

Hmmmm.  At 11 last night, I checked the local news on-line and found that the Boulder Office of Emergency Management had blown the sirens downtown at 6:30 last night to warn of flash flooding - rain and debris from the area of the Fourmile Canyon Wildfire had caused a 4-foot-high crest above what local creeks were already dealing with.  The alert was cancelled at 9 p.m. last night.  When I returned home this morning, I found a reverse 911 call from the City of Boulder OEM - all the recording said was "...for further information.", then a dial tone.  I consider myself lucky because the 4-foot-crest died before it got to the mouth of Boulder Canyon, and although there was a little bit of street flooding, my apartment stayed high and dry.  We're under a Flash Flood Alert from 3 p.m. today until 5 a.m. tomorrow.

After caring for and loving Cloudy and Shady this morning, I walked up Topaz and along 26th to Tamarack to do the usual morning thing with Rascal.  At the east end of Kathy and Jim's property runs a seasonal creek - and it apparently got a lot more than just the rain water last night - the three blocks of Topaz, from 2300 to 2600, had been completely under water.  I was wearing my light-weight summer walking shoes this morning, and I'm lucky to have escaped Topaz with both shoes on my feet!  There was a very gooey, grasping layer of reddish muck covered by black silt (anywhere from 1/4 inch to 4 inches deep) on top of the road bed for those three blocks - not to mention all the tree branches, bark, leaves, and rocks that had been carried along by the flooding waters.  I took care of Rascal and then went to grab Rosie and Remy for their walk.  While the creek had flooded, all of the normal streams, where I usually water the dogs, were completely dry... it was totally weird.

The kits were very happy to see me this morning when I got home.  Lovey and Nedi greeted me at the door, while Mocha did a little dance and talked to me from the kitchen.  I fed them all, loved them all, groomed them all, cleaned the litter boxes and sat down with the PC.  The road up into Fourmile Canyon has been closed due to mudslides and debris fields.  A few people tried to drive out of the canyon last night; there are photos of vans and small cars trapped in mud up to their windshields on the road.  OEM has bulldozers and dump trucks lined up to start clearing the road - but we're expecting more rain each afternoon and evening  for the next week.  Talk about having to "wait and see..."!!!