Still dry, for now.

Our first sign of serious trouble was when the school district sent everyone home at 11 am Thursday, due to concerns that roads would soon be impassible. Since then, we watched the river rise, first in Estes Park.

To the right is one of two main roads to Estes Park. Totally gone, thanks to flooding. The town of Estes is pretty much inaccessible, with the other 2 main roads crumbling as well. The only way in or out is over Trail Ridge Road, which the National Park Service is keeping open despite snowfall, just so emergency services have a way in and out. Unfortunately, that's one heck of a detour :(

Then they had to release excess water down the Big Thompson which combined with the constant rain, and things went even more wrong, as you can see by the photo of the Narrows part of the canyon.

From the canyon the water raced through Loveland itself, flowing over farmland and neighborhoods alike.

Eventually, the water overran I-25, just south of town this morning. This is the main route in and out of Loveland, Eventually, the entire interstate closed from Denver to the Wyoming border. Crazy when the interstate becomes a river! At that point, every route into Loveland from the south was cut off, due to topped or destroyed bridges.

The river continues to rush east, into Greeley, taking out a trailer park and heading for the Platte River, into which most of them eventually flow.

National Guard helicopters are evacuating residents from areas that are inaccessible.

And unfortunately, more rain is predicted for the weekend.

But thankfully, we are high and dry, safe and well. We send our positive thoughts to those that are out of their homes or have lost their homes, as well as our gratitude for the amazing fire & police, sheriff, State Patrol and National Guard folks out there rescuing people and keeping us safe. Also, a huge shout out for the Searcfh & Rescue folks that have come in from Nebraska & Utah to help out. Bless you all!

*Sigh*

Honestly, I think it must be my attention span right now. I'm reading Carniepunk at the moment, and of course I started with the Kevin Hearne Iron Druid short story. And guess what? I cruised right through it and enjoyed it. I'm going through a bit of a stressful time right now, and instead of being able to escape in to a book, I can't seem to turn off my thoughts for any length at all. So maybe Carniepunk is a good book for me to be reading right now, since it's all shorts.

And I do love compilations, they introduce me to new authors that may become favorites. Like Sword and Sorceress intro'd me to Mercedes Lackey, I still love Tarma and Kethry. And I first read a Michelle Sagara Cast In story in a book of novellas that I got for the Mercedes Lackey story and so on. I always pick up books like this with the hope that someone new will grab my attention and make me search out other works by that author. Seanan McGuire came to me through a Toby short story in Home Improvement, Undead Edition, as a result wanting to read shorts by several favorite authors in it.

Then again, sometimes I end up disappointed, because I love a short so much only to find out that it's a one off and the stuff the author normally writes is completely different, or the author doesn't have anything else published.