ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Wednesday afternoon, the road leading to Dan Hollingsworth’s grandparent’s house was underwater – again.
The intersection at East 112th Avenue and Himalaya Road, just east of E470, in Adams County, has been underwater off and on for weeks. On Wednesday, about a foot of water covered the road at its deepest point.
“With all the rain we’ve been getting, this has affectionately been called ‘Lake Himalaya,’” Hollingsworth joked. “It just keeps filling up.”
Jokes aside, Hollingsworth and his family are worried about his grandparents and the others who live in their neighborhood. Many of them are elderly, and his own grandmother has ongoing health issues, he said.
“The ambulances can’t get through here, it’s too deep. A lot of people are getting stuck up here in the neighborhood, because they don’t have four-wheel drive. Like my grandparents – they have a Buick LeSabre, and it can’t get through this.”
His grandparents have lived in the area a long time. Flooding on the unpaved road isn’t a new issue, he said, but the location is – and the scale of the problem.
“The flooding used to happen further up the road towards the airport. But the city of Denver, which owns the airport, they installed a new culvert which is… even smaller, I guess. It can’t handle all the rainwater that comes through on Third Creek and it’s just piling all the water up further down over here,” he said. “Adams County has come out and tried to pump it, but they’re having a hard time keeping up with the water.”
Brian Staley, public works director for Adams County said staff has been monitoring flooding conditions in this area since the significant weather events that began in May.
"We have had frequent status updates to the area residents on this topic and monitor conditions at this location daily to ensure the pass-ability emergency vehicles," he said.
Staley said there is public right-of-way maintain by both Adams County and Commerce City in this vicinity.
According to Staley, this subdivision is very close to Third Creek which is a tributary of the waters of the U.S. which is subject to oversight by the federal government.
He said Adams County applied for a 404 permit to improve drainage for the roadway, however work can only be completed during low-flow periods, typically in the fall. Staley explained that because of the significant storm events that has caused heavy flows in Third Creek there is no where for the water to flow until the creek waters naturally recede.
Staley said that Adams County staff makes daily site visits to ensure that ambulances and other emergency vehicles are able to travel through the intersection. He admitted it may be difficult for low-clearance vehicles to travel through the intersection when it's flooded.
9NEWS reached out to several jurisdictions to learn more about the flooding problem. Spokespeople for the City of Denver and DIA said they were working to gather more information.
Meanwhile, Hollingsworth and his family are relying on the four-wheel drive vehicles they do have to shuttle groceries and other items to their grandparents, as needed. And there’s more rain in the forecast, once again.
“It is what it is,” he said with a shrug. As for their new “Lake Himalaya?” He continued, with a laugh, “There might be some fish in here, somewhere. We’ve even been getting shore birds! The ones that are around Barr Lake, they’re hanging in this area [now].”
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