Good Old Days set for this weekend in Lyons, flood recovery continues

It’s been almost three years since an eight-day “100-year storm” wrecked havoc in the valley that is home to Lyons, a town with a population of just over 2,000 people.

The term “100-year storm” is an arbitrary figure, but most can imagine that it rained. And it rained a lot, for a long time.

Left Hand Water District General Manager Christopher Smith said that the way the storm hovered over the area is mind-boggling.

“The whole meteorological impact is pretty fascinating,” Smith said. “It sat over the headwaters to Lefthand Creek, Boulder Creek and the South Platte River for eight days.

“You hear the terms ‘100-year storm,’ from a meteorological standpoint and you can spend years trying to understand how this happens. But if you’re in it you understand what it looks like.”

Rainfall varied throughout the area, but some areas received almost 18 inches in that eight-day period, tripling average rainfall for the area in the month of September.

Putting the scientific explanation aside, the town of Lyons — along with much of the St. Vrain River valleys — was inundated with water in September of 2013.

“It rained so hard for so long the ground was completely saturated,” Smith said. “There was nowhere for the water to go, the runoff was incredible. It jumped the banks of all of the major rivers from north Denver up to the Big Thompson. It was a huge storm.”

Homes, businesses, bridges and roads were destroyed, and a federal natural disaster declaration was made.

The water district alone had $2.5 million in damage. The city of Longmont and Boulder County’s damage estimates to infrastructure were in the $150 million range each.

With the national declaration, entities were able to receive funding from FEMA. Most are coming in the form of reimbursements, but some emergency funding was given.

Smith said that the district’s main damage was at creek crossings, access roads and water lines — but not to the treatment plant itself.

“We escaped that,” Smith said. “But there was still a lot of recovery work to do. We completed that in January 2014.”

In total 17 counties were affected and six fatalities were recorded.

More than 12,000 people were displaced by a mandatory evacuation, and over 1,000 were airlifted from remote locations.

Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged, yet the people of Lyons — and each community affected — continue to work to rebuild.

Though the town may look different with the new scenery, the flood will not stop this weekend’s “Good Old Days.”

The Lyons River Run 5k will start the day, and the whole festival will take place on June 25 at Sandstone Park.

There will be live music and other entertainment along with food and drink vendors and things to do for young and old alike.

As stubborn as the rainfall that week in September 2013 was, the people of Lyons and Boulder County are just as stubborn in their efforts to restore the communities they cherish.