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Weekend warmup to create potential for flooding
Mesa County officials are advising residents to prepare for possible flooding in the coming week, as a spike in temperatures could put local rivers and creeks at or above bankful.
The National Weather Service is forecasting highs in Grand Junction to reach the lower 80s tomorrow and soar close to 90 degrees by the end of the weekend and early next week. Forecasters expect temperatures in areas above 8,000 feet to reach as high as the mid-70s by Monday.
“This is our first wave of high runoff that we are going to see this spring,” Mesa County Emergency Manager Chadd Searcy said this morning. “The forecasts that we’re getting are fairly concerning. There’s a ton of water still up in the mountains and with this next four or five days of higher temperatures, we’re going to see a lot of that water coming down.”
An unusually deep snowpack and higher-than-normal precipitation in April and May have left snowpack levels in the Colorado and Gunnison River basins at more than 140 percent of normal.
Searcy said some forecast models are calling for the Colorado River to be at or above bankful by the middle of next week.
He said Mesa County sheriff’s deputies and county Road and Bridge Department employees will be monitoring data gauges in local waterways. Of particular concern is Plateau Creek, which runs through the town of Collbran, and the lower-lying areas of the Colorado River west of downtown Grand Junction.
Searcy said officials have strategically placed sandbags and other flood-prevention materials in the Collbran area, should Plateau Creek overrun its banks.
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