Flood — Archuleta, Colorado

2025-10-11 to 2025-10-12 · near Pagosa Spgs, Archuleta, Colorado

Event narrative

Significant rainfall fell across the San Juan River Basin between the evening of October 9 and October 11 due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla. This resulted in major flooding along the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs. Action stage of 9.48 feet was exceeded on October 11 at 1100 MST. The San Juan River crested at major flood stage on October 11 at 1600 MST at 12.66 feet and 8270 cfs. The San Juan River then fell to near action stage on October 12 at 1000 MST. Four places were impacted in Archuleta County which were mostly rural. Most of the damage reported were dirt roads washed out and minor flooding to residents where the river exceeded its banks. There were numerous power outages and a water main broke in Pagosa Springs which was repaired on October 12. Preliminary estimates of $5 million to repair man-made white water rapids for kayaking and recreation along the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs and $2 million estimated to repair the bike path along the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs.

Wider weather episode

Between October 10-14, 2025, southwest Colorado experienced prolonged periods of rain and some of the largest multiday rainfall totals on record with rainfall accumulations between 3 and 8 inches, with locally higher amounts across the San Juan Mountains. Remnants from two tropical storms supplied anomalous moisture across the region, with minimal break between events. The first round of heavy rainfall resulted in flooding across La Plata and Archuleta counties from decaying Tropical Storm Priscilla beginning October 10 and continuing throughout the day on the 11th. There was a break in rain across the area on October 12, followed by a second round of heavy rain from October 13-14, associated with moisture from remnant Tropical Storm Raymond. Without much time between systems, the hydrologic response of the second storm was much faster than the first. Flooding across several counties in southwest Colorado spiked twice within the 5-day window, leading to major flooding and near record peaks along the Vallecito, Piedra and San Juan watersheds that lingered through the 16th before water levels receded. Numerous debris flows and rockslides also occurred as a result of the abundant rainfall.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.2572, -107.0083)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1298374. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.