More than 500 homes damaged in, 50 people rescued from southwestern Colorado flooding

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Oct 29, 2026

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DENVER — As damage assessments continue across southwest Colorado, Archuleta County officials have confirmed more than 500 homes were impacted by flooding and dozens of stranded residents were rescued.

Of the 595 miles of roadway in Archuleta County, roughly 150 miles are impassable, Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners Chair Warren Brown said during a Tuesday night community meeting in Pagosa Springs. Brown estimated the flood damaged more than 800 structures, including roughly 540 homes, and said recovery is likely to take years.

Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux called the flooding “catastrophic” and “unprecedented” during the meeting.

“It’s been absolutely devastating,” Le Roux said. “We have not, in this county, in our time, witnessed anything as big as this act of Mother Nature.”

By the morning of Oct. 23, heavy rain had boosted the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs from 5 feet to more than 15 feet, the river’s highest crest in 115 years. The extreme flooding took all of Friday and most of Saturday to recede to the level of last year’s October incident, which town officials at that time called a “100-year flood.”

“This isn’t our first rodeo, but experiencing significant flooding in back-to-back years has certainly tested our community,” Pagosa Springs Town Manager David Harris said in a statement. “What continues to stand out is the way our staff, first responders, and neighbors come together. We’re focused on getting Pagosa Springs back on its feet while making sure we take the necessary steps toward long-term recovery.”

Harris, along with Pagosa Springs Mayor Shari Pierce, formally declared a local disaster emergency on Thursday for “extensive flood-related damage to roads, bridges, culverts, and other public infrastructure.”

Last week’s flooding affected 12 counties in southern Colorado and more in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. A tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean and the remnants of Hurricane Trudy sent a surge of moisture across the region, causing widespread flooding in the four states.

As of Thursday, the Colorado National Guard had helped rescue an estimated 50 people stranded by the flooding, along with 20 of their pets, according to the agency. At least 38 people had been rescued in Archuleta County, said Steve Peck, an operations chief with the Colorado Incident Management Team, during Tuesday’s meeting.

“We’ve got roads that are completely impassable, but in between, you have areas that people are living in. They’re on islands essentially, and they cannot get out,” Peck said. “We’ve been going in there and pulling those people out.”

No injuries or deaths from the flooding have been reported, Peck said.

Damage assessment teams have surveyed more than 1,300 homes and businesses in Rio Grande and Mineral counties, where the Rio Grande River flooded the communities of Monte Vista, Del Norte and South Fork, according to South Fork Fire Rescue. It’s unclear how many of those buildings were damaged.

The South Fork of the Rio Grande rose more than 6 feet in 36 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The river peaked at roughly 9 feet early Friday morning.

The full picture of damage to roads across southwest Colorado has yet to come together, but state officials estimate the flood caused roughly $65 million in damages to three main highways in the area: U.S. 160, U.S. 550 and Colorado 151.

Colorado Department of Transportation officials on Wednesday requested federal assistance to begin emergency repairs, hoping to get the highways travel-ready before winter, with work expected to continue in the spring.

“Some of the damage will take time to permanently repair,” CDOT Southwest Transportation Director Julie Constan said in a Wednesday statement. “We are in it for the long haul.”

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