Fifth fatality feared in Colorado floods as towns evacuated

DENVER Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:39pm EDT

1 of 20. An aerial view of a farm house surrounded by flood waters along the South Platte River near Greenley, Colorado September 14, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/John Wark





















(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Gunna Dickson)

Comments (11)
amibovvered wrote:
Don’t mention th dams…

Sep 13, 2013 10:40pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
SeniorMoment wrote:
Since the Denver, Colorado, Metro area is semi-arid and largely without a history of floods, it is likely the only homes and perhaps even businesses insured for flood damage are those in known flood plains and still paying a mortgage which requires federal flood insurance at probably 100 year floods.

A friend in the Boulder, Colorado, area also told me that there is severe damage to the area’s roads and highways. That is probably due to expansive clay soils.

Either all the federal disaster aid that will flow in will boast the state’s economy as reconstruction of roads and highways is done in addition to extensive building repairs, or a large number of homes may simply be abandoned and turned back to their mortgage company for lack of funds needed for repairs. The State of Colorado itself is unlikely to be a significant source of aid because Colorado has the nation’s strictest limitations on raising taxes and/or spending in the nation. In fact that TABOR law, which had been promoted by Douglas Bruce, requires that major disasters may be given funding contingent on subsequent voter approval of the action. Policy makers will not want to do that simply because if voters reject the spending after the fact the rest of the state’s budget has to be cut to recover what was spent. Although it is possible some changes have been made, since then, which was about a decade and a half ago, but my understanding is all that accomplished was turning the state government from never borrowing money to once where a significant chunk of current spending goes to pay for past spending in the form of principal and interest.

The extensive damage will put Colorado under extraordinary financial pressure at the state level unless the federal government waives the 10% state match for federal disaster assistance. At the least it may delay repairs for a year or more to put the funding to a vote of the people. It is actually a terrible way to run a state, and it works in such a way to shift funding to the local level where voters can waive the law for five years in a state with the state government paying far less of the total state and local government spending than in most states.

Sep 14, 2013 5:41am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Big2Tex wrote:
Typical disaster preparation for blue states. Support gay marriage, pot smoking, open border immigration, and removal of gun rights but do nothing to support natural disaster relief or economic stability. Ever hear of a “rainy day” fund? Colorado has its head in the clouds where the air and thinking are extremely thin.

Sep 14, 2013 8:57am EDT  --  Report as abuse