Debris Flow — San Juan, Colorado

2020-06-06 · near Elk Park, San Juan, Colorado

Event narrative

Heavy rain brought down a massive amount of debris from the Elk Creek drainage which jammed the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge railroad. The debris washed out over 40 feet of the tracks. CoCoRAHS reports from Silverton reported over an inch of rain having fallen from storms.

Wider weather episode

A negatively tilted trough moved through western Colorado on the morning and afternoon of Saturday, June 6th, causing a widespread severe weather event that would become the first derecho to impact the Western Slope in well over a decade. Severe storms produced wind gusts upwards of 60 to 80 mph on average with some gusts topping 80 to 100 mph in some areas due to strong downburst winds. There were multiple reports of uprooted trees, downed power lines, at least one roof was torn off with others damaged, and several houses/cabins and vehicles were damaged by falling trees and/or large hail. Very heavy rain also fell which led to flash flooding in some areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7466, -107.6624)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 889189. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.