{"id":797277,"date":"2019-07-01T21:05:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T03:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=368223"},"modified":"2019-07-01T21:05:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T03:05:06","slug":"vail-valley-flooding-forces-home-evacuations-in-gypsum-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/vail-valley-flooding-forces-home-evacuations-in-gypsum-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Vail Valley flooding forces home evacuations in Gypsum neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Judith Evans, left, and Gregg Forrester survey the flooding in their Park View neighborhood in Gypsum. They both had to evacuate their homes after the Eagle River spilled over its banks early Monday.<\/strong>
Randy Wyrick \/ randy@vaildaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

GYPSUM \u2014 Most years, the Eagle River threatens to flood a couple of Gypsum neighborhoods. On Monday, that flooding actually happened.<\/p>\n

A few homes from Gypsum\u2019s Park View neighborhood were ordered to be evacuated Monday morning. Several more are threatened as the Eagle River is forecasted to fall and rise a couple more times, according to data from the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the river was running a foot and a half below the top of its banks. Following Sunday\u2019s thunderstorms, it spilled over early Monday.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no emergency yet, \u201cbut that could change in 10 minutes,\u201d Gypsum Mayor Steve Carver said.<\/p>\n

Gypsum firefighters knocked on Gregg and Mitzi Forrester\u2019s door at 6 a.m. Monday, then went next door to Judith Evans. They advised the Forresters to move their boat and RV to higher ground. Not long afterward some of those same firefighters were back, advising the Forresters to join their boat and RV on higher ground.<\/p>\n

By midday Monday, the Forresters\u2019 entire yard was under the rushing water, and they had more than a foot in the crawl space under their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love living on the river \u2026 most of the time,\u201d Gregg Forrester said.<\/p>\n

Even with Monday\u2019s flooding, it\u2019s worth it, he said.<\/p>\n

Water arrives in a hurry<\/h2>\n

Evans looked outside early Monday and saw the bright, glorious morning weather. She said her morning plans shifted from, \u201cit\u2019s such a beautiful morning; what shall I do today?\u201d to packing up food and helping haul it across the cul-de-sac, which was crawling with Gypsum firefighters and town staffers. Pastor Jason Haynes and his son were there to lend a hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m OK,\u201d Evans repeated countless times into her phone as people called to check on her.<\/p>\n

Blair Hawkins and the town of Gypsum crews filled and placed almost 500 sandbags around town, trying to keep flood damage to a minimum. The river spilled onto the Gypsum Creek Golf Course in several places.<\/p>\n

Along Gypsum\u2019s Riverview Street are several places designed for water to run from the neighborhood into the Eagle River. On Monday, the river was so high that the water was running the other way \u2014 into the neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Spike Kullas lives in that neighborhood on the same cul-de-sac as Evans and the Forresters. He hasn\u2019t been evacuated \u2026 yet, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an island!\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n

The river is 1-100th of a foot from a record high, according to the National Weather Service\u2019s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.<\/p>\n

Kullas and the others remember the last time it was close to this high. That was 2010 \u2014 another epic snow year.<\/p>\n

The Eagle River broke through a logjam around Minturn, and Kullas answered a 3 a.m. knock on his door \u2014 a town official telling him the water was on its way.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not surprised at this year\u2019s high water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the snowpack so high, this was bound to happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2010, inmates from the Eagle County jail helped with flood efforts. Complete with a shotgun-toting deputy, it looked a little like something out of a movie. Kullas and his wife were so happy to have them there that they fed the inmates blueberry muffins.<\/p>\n

Inmates \u2014 not the same ones \u2014 pitched in again on Monday, filling sandbags that were then trucked to where they were needed.<\/p>\n