Rain in southwestern Colorado raises rivers to levels unseen since the 1970s

Tropical storms that drenched southwestern Colorado caused rivers to swell to levels unseen since the 1970s and doubled the amount of water in one small reservoir in La Plata County.

Two storms in the Pacific, Hurricane Priscilla and tropical storm Raymond, dropped 512% of the normal amount of precipitation for southwestern Colorado for October.

Communities were just starting to recover Tuesday from flooding, evacuations and damage to roads and bridges with more storms on the way. The influx of moisture was also a boon for shrunken reservoir storage after a dry summer.

“We’re not out of the woods quite yet,” said Kate Abbott, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Near Pagosa Springs, flows in the San Juan River peaked around 4 a.m. Tuesday at 12.6 feet deep, its highest level sin