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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Sep 18, 2013 - 07:54pm PT
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There are still over 300 people missing. This is very worrying.
Only worrying if you're kinda gullible and believe the media hype.
"Missing" isn't even the word/phrase I've heard used, which is "unaccounted for," and it's not exactly obvious what you need to do/don't do to get into that category.
As bad as the damage is (in some places, extreme), no one expect any large number of people to turn up dead; the death toll wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a typical few days of car crashes and general mayhem.
Driving around most of Boulder, you really wouldn't know anything out of the ordinary happened last week--things are pretty much back to normal. In some neighborhoods, you'll see a lot of carpet and debris stacked outside, in most places, you won't even see that.
Not trying to minimize the damage to people who suffered (and I took a hit myself in a completely flooded basement, courtesy of City of Boulder sending sewer water up my basement drain). Just saying if you were here, you'd see that life is going on just fine for most people--maybe this will even stimulate the economy, who knows.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Sep 18, 2013 - 10:39pm PT
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Whoa! Wait a minute; philo owns a Mercedes?
edit: I want my $600 back! :)
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philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
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Sep 18, 2013 - 11:33pm PT
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Not mine but my client, friend and climbing partner's.
I'm volunteering to help dig out his house and salvage what we can.
I'm on my 3rd 15 year old Suburban in 2years and praying it stays on the road.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Sep 18, 2013 - 11:36pm PT
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Just funning with you philo. Glad you are okay.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
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Sep 18, 2013 - 11:38pm PT
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This has been heinous in extremes.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Sep 19, 2013 - 11:45am PT
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Philo, look on the bright side. It looks like the retaining wall saved the house from being swept away. May want to widen it, though.
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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Sep 19, 2013 - 12:52pm PT
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
Sep 18, 2013 - 04:54pm PT
things are pretty much back to normal
That is one of the most delusional things I've read on this site.
Biggest natural disaster since Katrina, 1800 homes totaled, the towns of Jamestown, Salina, and Lyons destroyed, not much to save.
Hundreds of people are staying in their homes up past RMNP, no road for months, CDOT is saying a year until a road is cleared and rebuilt.
National Guard flew in there yesterday with the Sheriff explaining how screwed they are if there is an emergency no road, no services. The forest service is saying they are closing the one dirt road, on private land, because it is" too dangerous". People have horses, livestock, stuff to take care of before winter hits. Things may never be back to normal for some of these mountain towns and families that lived there.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Sep 19, 2013 - 01:22pm PT
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That is one of the most delusional things I've read on this site.
Nice job in selective quotation. City of Boulder wasn't too badly hit, from what I've seen driving/biking around the city. I'm sure there's a lot of damage that I didn't see--it's kind of local. What can I say--I call it as I see it. Movement gym never missed a beat, most businesses seemed to stay open the entire time. I hired a water extraction company to handle my basement--guy I spoke with said they're not getting many calls from Boulder (but they're starting to get calls from other places)--most people handled it themselves by just throwing out wet carpet.
Obviously, the damage was extreme in other places, just as I wrote--if there's a stronger word than "extreme," I'm sure that would be accurate.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 19, 2013 - 01:42pm PT
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Only worrying if you're kinda gullible and believe the media hype.
"Missing" isn't even the word/phrase I've heard used, which is "unaccounted for," and it's not exactly obvious what you need to do/don't do to get into that category.
Nice job of selective quotation. And nice quibble over the word "missing". I accept your correction and will try to be more careful in future.
Worrying because after nearly a week, most of the living people have been accounted for.
now down to 200 according to NBC news 6 hours ago.
The number of people reported unaccounted for dwindled from a high of 1,200 to about 200. Nowhere did I say I didn't expect to see a fall in the number of accounted for.
200 people missing is not worrying to you?
But we all digress. There's still a helluva mess and thousands of peoples of lives will be severely disrupted for months. Even if those 200 or so can be found alive.
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Sep 19, 2013 - 01:48pm PT
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That is one of the most delusional things I've read on this site.
Really? Didn't I see the part about 1,000 year event upthread? Does anyone believe this won't happen again for 1000 years?
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Sep 19, 2013 - 01:49pm PT
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200 people missing is not worrying to you?
But we all digress. There's still a helluva mess and thousands of peoples of lives will be severely disrupted for months. Even if those 200 or so can be found alive.
200 missing people would be worrying if there was any realistic chance that those people were killed or seriously injured or are in actual flood-related danger. But that isn't what happened--it was just irresponsible media coverage to hype the story--you seem to sort-of know that, but you're also reluctant to admit you were fooled. That's human nature I guess--I don't like to admit when I've been snookered either.
There will be a lot of clean up and work needed to be done around here--everyone has to stay calm, assess the situation, and do what they can. Panic and yellow journalism don't help.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:04pm PT
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blahblah
time will tell. Eventually…….or maybe not.
Have you ever dug through 15 feet of mud and boulders looking for a body? No? Neither have I.
Think about it. And which particular square yard of mud and boulders shall we dig first?
There will be "unaccounted for" persons who will never be found. Not in your or my lifetimes. Hopefully very few.
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:15pm PT
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
Sep 19, 2013 - 10:22am PT
I'm sure there's a lot of damage that I didn't see--it's kind of local. What can I say--I call it as I see it. Movement gym never missed a beat,
Nice priorities.
Hopefully the lattes are still flowing down on Pearl Street.
At this point I have 5 friends missing between Salina, Lyons, and Big Thompson Canyon.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:20pm PT
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goatboy
I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully they will turn up OK.
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:26pm PT
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If you've ever been in that position, even if you think there is good chance the people are safe and holed up with neighbors, it is still very worrysome until they actually check in with you.
In this day of texting and cell phones, it is much easier than it used to be to borrow someone's phone real quick, and call a loved one to tell them you are OK, so in that sense it is more serious if a couple hundred people are still unaccounted for after several days.
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:32pm PT
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Hey blah, not to dogpile on you, but I think you might rethink your posts, only because they come off as being rather clueless about what's going on around you. For those that like to climb outside, just about every canyon, with maybe the exception of Clear Creek, between the Springs and Ft. Collins is closed and absolutely trashed. (Devastated might be a better description.) I stood in a 300 ft. line at Home Depot in which everyone was trying to get a pump. The stories I heard there were horrific in terms of the losses Boulderites are dealing with. I work in a high school in south Boulder, and almost every kid that I have heard about has at least a flooded basement, and massive losses of things that were in the basement. We just started back to school yesterday, after all schools were canceled for four days.I can easily think of at least four people in my school that might not get back home for weeks, one of whom was short-hauled by helicopter out of his residence.
To say that things are even close to normal is not accurate in the least. . even in a town where the definition of normal is elusive on its best days. The media was part of an effort to get the word out for folks to contact somebody. I really don't think that is yellow journalism.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:45pm PT
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One stock tank spilled, and it wasn't even a fracked well. It was a vertical well.
People have spun the lie that these things are poison. They are no different than a vertical fracked well.
The number of gas wells in the Wattenburg Field looks like a buckshot pattern. The DJ Basin horizontal play is in the Niobrara, and it hasn't turned out too well.
I work with some environmental professionals (married to one) and I always hear that in a flood or tornado, all kinds of nasty stuff gets swept away.
Raw Sewage where lines are broken, all sorts of chemicals when businesses get taken out. It ends up as a stew. One friend of mine did his PhD on this. I hear him go on and on about it.
I was watching my lady Rachel Maddow last night, and she had some dimwit that didn't even know what condensate was.
There are a TON of gas wells which also make some oil or condensate (condensate is lighter, barely liquid hydrocarbons, often produced in gas wells).
I should send you a map of the Wattenburg Field. There are tens of thousands of old vertical wells. The horizontal Niobrara play hasn't been working in most places of the basin. I can sort through the wells and send a map of every horizontal well in the east half of the state. Everybody lost money on the Niobrara.
The truth is not so dramatic.
Rachel Maddow was interviewing some anti fracking lady, and she went on to say that it was going to pollute the Ogallala Aquifer. Nope. The Ogallala is not actively sourced in most places, and is being drained at an alarming rate. You can have a surface spill, and it won't get in the aquifer.
Just consider the amount of agricultural chemicals that are sprayed on those center pivot irrigated fields. THAT is some nasty sh#t. Farmers get a free pass.
Either way, the water quality of the Ogallala is excellent where I have dealt with it. It is running out fast, you know. That will mean no more farming corn west of the 100th meridian, while paying farmers NOT to grow corn in the eastern state. Wheat is a dryland crop. Corn needs a ton of water and fertilizer.
Go read the book Cadillac Desert.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Sep 19, 2013 - 02:55pm PT
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Hey blah, not to dogpile on you, but I think you might rethink your posts, only because they come off as being rather clueless about what's going on around you. OK. Remember that I too am a victim in that my basement was flooded. Seems like most people are just throwing out their carpet--I did that, and also had bottom two feet of drywall and insulation cut out and removed cuz I'm afraid of mold. So I basically went from having a finished basement to an unfinished basement. Clothes dryer is whacked, not sure about furnace yet (washer and hot water heater seem ok). Lost about 50 old climbing magazines due to water damage, and threw away some old ropes that were sitting in my basement. And lots of other junk, a little non-junk.
Unlike a lot of posts on ST, I'm not writing opinion about something I know nothing about. I've been out and about in Boulder during the flood and every day thereafter, doing normal stuff: going to Movement, Costco (in Superior), Smash Burger (29th St. Mall). Went to Movement with my friend (carpooled) who was telling me how terrible the flood devastation was in Boulder. I asked him where and suggested we drive by to take a look--seems like the devastation was always somewhere we weren't!
I'm not really sure why my observation that things are basically normal in Boulder is upsetting people, but "it is what it is." I know there are plenty of actual flood victims, but serious victims are an extremely low % of the local population. I hope they get the help they need.
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John M
climber
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Sep 19, 2013 - 03:02pm PT
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I'm not really sure why my observation that things are basically normal in Boulder is upsetting people
Its because your observation was included with your comments about the missing people. Your comments came across as insensitive to those who are missing friends or family. Will most missing people be found? Most likely. But that doesn't help someone who might have lost a friend.
Timing is important.
Is most of Boulder fine? Most likely.
That doesn't mean anything to someone who lost a home, a business, a way of life, or a friend or family member. Places people love have been demolished.
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Sep 19, 2013 - 03:58pm PT
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Blah, take a ride up to Violet, near Crestview Elementary School. Or check out Broadway in N. Boulder in the Violet-Lee Hill Rd. area. Or go up Lee Hill Road as far as the road block. Or up Linden as far as the roadblock. Or up Boulder Canyon as far as the roadblock. Or up to Gregory Canyon, if you can get up there. (They are only allowing residents up on Flagstaff Mtn.) Or Chautauqua where there is apparently a 20 ft. pile of flood debris. Or out by the East Boulder Rec Center. Or anywhere along the bike path downtown. Or the area west of the Pearl St. Mall. Or the Eldorado Springs road. Or Eldorado Springs. Or try to go for a run on any mountain park trail. My area of N. Boulder is probably the way you describe with rotten carpets stacked outside, but my guess is that in most cases (including your's apparently) there is more to that than rotten carpet. My neighbor (for some reason I don't understand) had insulated his crawlspace. All of that is destroyed and will need to be removed.
These are only areas in the immediate Boulder vicinity, and are only the ones that I have seen. I am sure there is more. I can't imagine what places like Jamestown must look like, but one of my students was evaced with her mom, and at the last minute her dad couldn't go because they couldn't get their pets across the raging stream to the Chinook. She doesn't know when she will see her dad again.
You are definitely a flood victim based on the description of the damages you have incurred, but what is "normal" for one is probably different for another. The point is, things are not back to "normal", and if they ever do get back to normal it will take months or years. Doesn't mean life doesn't go on though . . .
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