Surviving the flood in Colorado

patio after the flood

Thanks to those of you who inquired about our safety after hearing about the flooding in Colorado.  We had a very nervous time on Thursday as the water level in our sunken patio (above) kept rising.

The patio is below grade for the rest of the back yard and is right off the family room.  My studio is down one level from that.  The whole patio is drained by a french drain, but we worried the capacity of the drain would be overloaded by the over 13 inches of rain we received in two days.  We bailed out water over the brick wall as a precaution.  Now I wish I'd taken a photo of the patio full of water.

I had to cancel my lecture for the Colorado Watercolor Society last night - I can't imagine anyone would have wanted to travel in those conditions anyhow.  The lecture is rescheduled for next Thursday, 9-19.

Thirteen inches might not sound like much to those of you who live in hurricane areas, but our average precipitation (rain + snow water) is 15 inches for the whole year!  I thought we should start building an ark.