SILVERTHORNE — Overnight, water has flooded the banks of the Blue River in Silverthorne, swamping bike paths in some areas and creeping closer to the yards of houses along the water.
The Town of Silverthorne closed the river between 6th Street and the dam to recreational users except for kyaks Saturday as enough water to exceed the Blue River's 1,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) capacity was released from the Dillon Reservoir to avoid a more dire flooding situation in the next week or two.
There have not been any problems in town and it does not currently appear that Denver Water will be forced to raise downstream water levels any higher, according to Silverthorne chief of police Mark Hanschmidt,
“We're just keeping a watchful eye on the river, that's the most important thing,” he said. “The community awareness is pretty high, so I feel good about that.”
He said the town's primary concern now is keeping bridges clear and keeping people away from the swift water.
Water levels are expected to reach their highest point at night, when Straight and Willow creeks, tributaries of the Blue River, reach their peaks between 10 p.m. and midnight. Silverthorne is working with Denver Water to ensure the utility reduces the water released from the reservoir during those hours.
“They want to make sure they're doing the right thing and not flooding people out,” Hanschmidt said. “So they're going to back the outflow out of the reservoir a little bit to take into consideration the increased flows from Straight Creek and Willow Creek. Everybody's safety is No. 1.”
Denver Water made the decision Friday to begin releasing more water from the reservoir, in order to keep levels as low as possible while runoff and this week's rain water flow into the lake at an alarming 2,500 cfs. When the reservoir hits capacity, which could happen in the next week, the utility will have to release exactly as much water out of the reservoir and down into Silverthorne as is flowing into it.
Saturday, Denver Water allowed water levels flowing into the lower Blue River to hit 1,900 cfs, on par with 1995, when unlucky spring weather patterns resulted in a fast snow melt and similar flooding concerns to this year's. In 1995, the act now, stay dry later strategy worked. County and town officials are hoping the same will be true this year.
