Flood Damage Could Hurt Ability to Fight Colorado Wildfires

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Colorado’s congressional delegation is asking the federal government to move faster to fix flood damage to prevent further destruction from wildfires.

Letters have been sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service asking them to fix damaged or washed-out roads to help firefighters get through to national forests along the Front Range.

FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) conduct door to door checks in left hand canyon Photo by Michael Rieger/FEMA — FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) conduct door to door checks in left hand canyon Photo by Michael Rieger/FEMA

According to the Loveland Reporter-Herald, the September floods caused about $3 billion in damage, including $44 million in national forests.

Many of the worst hit roads are in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in Larimer and Boulder counties, where flooding affected approximately 230,000 acres.

During the past two years, Colorado has experienced its worst wildfire seasons. Blazes in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins destroyed more than 1,000 homes and killed five people.