Craig Daily Press

Keep up with the conditions

■ For weather information, including storm warnings and advisories, visit www.crh.noaa.gov/gjt/

■ The Colorado Department of Transportation provides road conditions, closures and traffic cameras at www.cotrip.org. For travel information by phone, call 511 from anywhere in Colorado or dial (303) 639-1111.

■ For flight information, visit www.flightview.com/ TravelTools/. By phone, call Delta Airlines at (800) 241-4141; United Airlines at (800) 864-8331; Continental Airlines at (800) 784-4444; American Airlines at (800) 433-7300; and Northwest Airlines at (800) 225-2525.

Craig — After a run of 80-plus degree weather melted some of the area’s accumulated snow, local rivers are rising near their banks and threatening roads and property.

On Thursday, high Yampa River waters prompted the Moffat County Road and Bridge Department to close the bridge on Moffat County Road 53 south of U.S. Highway 40.

Private lands in Craig and parts of Loudy-Simpson Park also flooded Thursday, as well as Deer Lodge Park west of Maybell the night before.

However, flooding in those areas is nothing new, said Jay Wagner, whose business, Wagner Ranches, owns lands south of First Street and U.S. 40.

“That’s always a low spot,” he said about the C.R. 53 bridge. “Being a lifelong resident of Moffat County, I’ve seen the river do a lot worse.”

Such as the “tremendous high flows” two weeks ago, Wagner said.

With the propensity for flooding around the area, he remains concerned about damages to his land and other areas in the future.

Wagner Ranches, he said, just invested $392,000 in a bridge over the Yampa River anabranch that snakes through southern Craig. A dangerous flood could wash that bridge away.

There also is the matter of a levy built on an adjacent property about 10 years ago, he said.

Wagner Construction, which Wagner also owns, helped rebuild the levy with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ cooperation last year. However, high river flows this year have damaged the levy and caused Wagner more worry.

“If this levy were to burst with all that water behind it,” he said, “all this along First Street could be under water.”

The Yampa is not the only cause for concern.

As of Thursday, Road and Bridge and Moffat County Sheriff’s Office crews were monitoring levels on the Little Snake River and the Williams Fork near Hamilton.

Little Snake waters had “washed out” County Road 129 in the northeast corner of Moffat County by mid-Thursday afternoon, said Linda DeRose, Road and Bridge manager.

The road still was considered passable, though, and left open.

Sheriff Tim Jantz said there were no other problems reported in the county, but that his deputies continued to monitor problem areas.

Information out of the National Weather Services Grand Junction Office may put some worries to rest, at least for the time being.

Jim Pringle, Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist, said the Yampa River is at a high-point for the year, but a cold front moving in this weekend should bring water levels down.

The Yampa River was close to a foot over its bank levels Thursday, according to a gauge shortly downstream from Craig, he said. However, the river should drop below its banks by tonight.

“This isn’t the last of what we’ll see for high flows, though,” Pringle said. “There’s still quite a bit of water left in the snowpack up in the mountains.”

He said there is an average of 10 to 20 inches of water left in Northwest Colorado snowpack. Some areas have more, such as the 47 inches of water left in places around Steamboat Springs.

“We’ll probably see the river levels rise again, if not higher than what they are right now,” he said. “This is not the highest peak we are anticipating unless we stay cool, cooler than normal.”

Temperatures should start rising again Sunday, Pringle said, but be more gradual than recent spikes. The Weather Service forecasts temperatures in the 50s through Saturday then in the mid-70s by the latter part of next week.