Arresting First Responder Images of Colorado Flooding

By Climate Central

After receiving nearly a year's worth of rain in just one week, portions of Colorado are suffering from devastating flooding. In the hardest-hit areas of Colorado's Front Range, including the city of Boulder, the National Guard has been airlifting people who have been cut off from surrounding communities by raging floodwaters. The flooding has claimed at least 8 lives, damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, and destroyed at least 30 bridges.

The Big Thompson River, which flows from Rocky Mountain National Park to western Nebraska, set a record flood height. The area is no stranger to flooding, but this event is unusually widespread, comes at a typically drier time of year, and has exceeded rainfall totals that have just a 0.1 percent annual probability of occuring. In Boulder, 2013 has become the wettest year on record, with half of the year's rainfall falling since Sept. 9.

The severity and extent of the damage is best captured through the eyes of the first responders, both in the air and on the ground.

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