Rocky Mountain News

HomeNewsLocal News

Flooding returns to CSU library

Published August 3, 2007 at midnight

Days after the 10th anniversary of the flood of Colorado State University's Morgan Library, it was taking on water again last night.

"There is some minor flooding in the basement. It doesn't sound like it's that bad," said CSU spokeswoman Dell Rae Moellenberg. "It doesn't sound like the scale of the flood 10 years ago."

Five buildings on campus were believed to have minor to moderate basement flooding: Morgan Library, Aylesworth Hall, the library in the Lory Student Center, the Engineering Hall and Green Hall.

On July 27, 1997, the Morgan Library was flooded, damaging 470,000 books and journals. CSU had more than $62 million damage to the library and to the Lory Student Center, when more than 14 inches fell in Fort Collins that night. The resulting flash flood killed five people and caused more than $200 million damage to the city and CSU.

Last night, the worst it got was up to 5 inches in three hours in some areas of town.

The storm hit around 6 p.m., with steady rain until 9 p.m. A flash-flood warning was in effect for the city until nearly midnight.

Creeks and streams were overflowing and covering bike paths but not reaching streets.

Meanwhile, heavy rains and swollen creeks were reported last night in Weld and Chaffee counties.

Scattered showers also fell in parts of the metro area overnight.

On Wednesday, flooding washed out a bridge and a part of a state highway leading to the town of Beulah in southern Colorado.

There's no estimate of when that small portion of Colorado 78, one mile east of the town, will reopen.

Back to Top

Search »