Rain-swollen Boulder Creek flows around a marker that shows historic flood levels on Friday morning, Sept. 13, 2013, in Boulder, Colo. City officials ordered an evacuation of thousands of residents along the creek the night before.LYONS, Colo. – Coffee-colored floodwaters cascaded downstream from the Colorado Rockies on Friday, transforming normally scenic rivers and creeks into fast, unforgiving torrents and forcing thousands more evacuations from water-logged communities beset by days of steady rain.
The relentless rush of water turned whole towns into muddy swamps and brought most transportation to a standstill. Damage assessments were on hold as authorities tried to rescue more than 2,500 people stranded in an emergency that stretched from Colorado Springs all the way to the Wyoming border.
A break in the weather aided crews as they ferried a dozen residents at a time out of Lyons and other mountain towns that had been cut off by high water. The Colorado National Guard tweeted that it helped evacuate nearly 300 people from Lyons and on Friday added helicopter flights to the search-and-rescue efforts, spokeswoman Cheresa Theiral said.
Many roads remained impassable, and still more rain was expected later in the day.
The overflowing St. Vrain River sliced the town of Longmont in half. All major roads were closed, and several thousand homes and businesses were without power.