WASHINGTON COUNTY- A levee breach Monday morning has prompted the National Weather Service to keep a flood warning in place for parts of Morgan and Washington Counties.
The levee broke near the town of Messex, an old railroad town along the South Platte River northeast of Fort Morgan. That breach allowed water to reach the nearby railroad track used by Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
That water washed out a portion of the track and a county road. The levee can't be fixed until water from the South Platte subsides. Because so much water has been coming through the breach, the water rose above and over the tracks, creating a new waterway.
"The railroad acts as a levee itself and doesn't let the water get back to the river. So it just keeps moving," Washington County Emergency Manager Mike McCaleb said.
There isn't a lot the county can do. It has closed several roads and asked the town of Messex to evacuate.
"It's just a public safety thing on the roads. We don't want people to fall in. We've got roads that are washed out two or three feet deep," McCaleb said.
Only 20 people in six homes were evacuated. Those on the north side of the Platte and the tracks are seeing the worst effects of the breach. Many of these people have lived here their entire lives and this isn't the worst they've seen.
The levee in question was built after the historic flooding in 1965. It was breached during the floods of 2013 then repaired. Two years later, McCaleb says they are dealing with a different beast: month-long flooding. He's hoping for a few weeks of dry weather.
McCaleb thinks some homes will take on water Tuesday night. He expects it will be two weeks before the levee can be accessed again. Then they'll have to wait for the land to dry up to repair it properly.
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