When it rains, it pours

Colorado just experienced an amount of rainfall that some people have described as "biblical". Some scientists are claiming that it might be a 1000-year storm. The latter may not have as poetic of a ring to it, but it puts things into perspective at least.

A 1000-year storm doesn't mean it has to happen every thousand years, it just means that, for Colorado, rainfall of this magnitude has a 0.1% chance of happening in any given year. That's pretty low odds, so we can't really blame anyone for betting against it. But since we lost that bet, what now? I mean, besides staying away from the Colorado State Lottery.

According to Al Jazeera, The Weather Channel, and just about every other news site ever (except for The Huffington Post, which oddly claimed four days ago that "at least 10 people" were dead), the death toll from this disaster is eight people. As far as the loss of life goes, things could have been much, much worse. It's the loss of homes, livelihoods, and infrastructure that really took a beating.

About 200 miles of state highways and roads and about 50 bridges were destroyed or damaged by the flood. The estimates of destroyed homes is anywhere from 1500-2000. Many of these people didn't have flood insurance (with 0.1% chance of this happening, why would they?)

The flood waters will recede, the towns will be cleaned and rebuilt, and the roads repaired. Contamination, however, is a different story. Sewage and septic systems have been destroyed, meaning millions of gallons of raw sewage has been released all over the state. This means E. Coli in drinking water, and still several months before some places will be livable.

Weld County, one of the counties hit hardest during this flood, is home to 20,500 active oil wells alone. Not only is oil being spilled, but natural gas and the chemicals associated with fracking are making their way into the ground water system.

Obviously, the oil companies are stressing how safe their operations are, and that they had plans in place for these situations. But no one else foresaw a flood that would make even Noah soil himself a little bit, so why would oil companies? And when an oil company says "Don't worry guys, it's cool. We got this," does anyone actually believe them anymore?

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/15/report-ruptured-pipelinegasleaksoilspillsincoloradofloods.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/1000-year-storm_n_3956897.html

http://blogs.denverpost.com/thebalancesheet/2013/09/23/oil-spills/10940/

http://www.weather.com/news/colorado-flood-damage-20130920