The rebuilding of Pueblo, Black Hawk, and maybe Boulder
By Forrest Whitman
The devastation from the big floods of 2013 is still in the top of most of our minds. Pictures of people rescued by helicopter filled the media last week. Estimates are that over 1,000 had to be rescued by helicopter in Pinewood Springs, probably half that number in the Jamestown area, and 100 in Big Elk Meadows. All sorts of land rescues will be going on for some time for those trapped in remote cabins. Lyons and Estes Park are almost islands. Given all of that, the loss of life is amazingly low. Only five have been confirmed dead, though that number could rise. Those death numbers are very low compared to some historic Colorado floods. The Great Flood of 1921 nearly wiped out the city of Pueblo and an estimated 1,500 people died. Black Hawk had regular floods damaging the down town as flood waters raged out of the flume coming down from Central City. A photo of the 1887 flood sits in the Black Hawk council chambers as a reminder of what did happen. Boulder Creek flooded regularly too and there was sometimes loss of life in Boulder. This time there were only two deaths, but more could be confirmed. It’s not a popular time to talk about the good that came from those historic floods, but it did.
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