Extreme flooding hit the region last week, damaging roads, buildings, and critical infrastructure in several watersheds across the Southwest. On Saturday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis submitted a formal request to the Trump Administration to declare last week's flooding a disaster, unlocking federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
KSUT's Adam Burke spoke with Gov. Polis on Sunday, as rain was falling, La Plata County was closing county roads, and the San Juan river was projected shatter historic records overnight.
Our interview, edited for length and clarity, explores what happens next now that the request has been delivered to President Trump.
KSUT: Governor Polis, extreme flooding hit the Southwest last week, as we all know. Yesterday, Saturday, you submitted a request to the Trump administration asking for a major disaster declaration and FEMA public assistance. Flooding occurred in a dozen counties last week, but this initial request focuses on just two counties: Archuleta and Rio Grande. Why so?
POLIS: We have to be able to hit the minimum threshold to be eligible for a federal disaster declaration for the other counties, and that could very well occur. But those damages have not been inventoried yet, which includes independent observers and a whole set of things we have to show working with FEMA. So rather than delay all of them, we certainly want to move forward with the ones that we've already had the documentation on.
KSUT: Colorado's initial estimates for recovery costs in Archuleta County and Rio Grande County come to just under $27 million. You've already expressed confidence that the final costs will be much higher. Why?
POLIS: Yeah, that's not the full recovery cost that you're citing; that's the damage to public infrastructure. So that does not include infrastructure we haven't assessed yet, but also it doesn't include private property damage. So it'll be a lot more than that. That's just what we had to assess for the purposes of the presidential disaster declaration. And the composition of that is mostly roads and water treatment centers and dams.
KSUT: I see. So, do you have any back-of-the-envelope number for the much larger number you just referred to?
POLIS: Well, no. I mean, the rain is still coming. It's here and there's more damage all the time, and and so we certainly know anecdotally which roads are you know covered in water and people can't access, and we have, but we don't know yet whether those roads are fully washed out or not. And we do have to go in and, you know, make sure we can document that.
KSUT: These are formal documents submitted to the federal government. Have you received any communication from the federal agencies reviewing this written request so far?
POLIS: Well, as we speak here on Sunday, we're talking about yesterday that we applied. So we were successful in getting a presidential declaration for the Aspen Acres fire in Pueblo this summer, and the time frame for that one was about two to three weeks. There's no time frame in statute, but in general, we would hope to hear back in days to weeks.
KSUT: Your letter does address the president directly. Have you received any communication directly from President Trump since this flooding occurred a week ago?
POLIS: No.
KSUT: Okay. Are you confident that you will hear from the president directly?
POLIS: Well, what I want to hear is that they approve our request. Whether I hear it from him or somebody else, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to make sure that we can get the resources we need to help build back the damaged infrastructure in southwestern Colorado.
KSUT: Last year, Colorado was unsuccessful in obtaining a similar disaster declaration from the president when flooding occurred in southwest Colorado. It's almost exactly a year ago. The administration rejected state appeals, and at the time, some state leaders said that the administration was punishing Colorado because many elected officials here are Democrats. Are you concerned that the president may not issue a declaration and deny Colorado access to FEMA funds to recover from this year's flooding?
POLIS: Well, in the past, these have always been, you know, generally when you meet the criteria, you're granted. With this president, nobody really knows. They did grant, as I mentioned, the Pueblo Fire one, and you're correct; they did not grant the one for last year's Southwest flooding, so I certainly hope that they approve this because it absolutely meets the criteria, and this is what FEMA and disaster assistance is for.
KSUT: Is there any reason to be more confident this year than last year that the president will hear Colorado's pleas?
POLIS: Well, I mean, we our job is to make sure that we compose the best possible application, document all the damage, and work closely with FEMA and hopefully they will approve that as they did the Aspen Acres fire a couple months ago.
KSUT: Have you seen this damage in person or just in photos and videos so far?
POLIS: No, just photos, and it's it's not a good time to travel there, obviously. So you know we're respecting the emergency response. But I've seen a lot of the photos and videos, and and in regular touch with folks on the ground.
KSUT: Have you had any reactions to the photos, or is it just another day in the life of a governor?
POLIS: Well for me personally, it just reminds me of the 2013 floods, which hit where I live in in Boulder. It hit Weld County, Boulder County, the Front Range, Larimer County, very hard, and you know I lived through that, and experienced that. For people in southwest Colorado who have friends in the Northern Front Range, they remember that occasion. This flooding really looks to me a lot like that. You know, a century flood washing out roads and damaging entire developments.
KSUT: You call it a "century flood". Many people used that term last year for the flooding that hit Pagosa Springs: a 100-year flood. Now, a year later, they're getting another one.
POLIS: Well, I think one of the things that we know is that with the changing climate, it's harder and harder to predict. I mean, who would have thought that we'd had the dry winter we had last year? I mean, we were at less than 50 percent of snowpack in most of our mountain areas. Maybe events that you know used to be rare or more common now. It's just really hard that the old predictive models have changed due to climate change.
KSUT: Any plans to visit the region in the near future and come see the damage for yourself?
POLIS: I'll look at that when it's safe, and we're past the immediate response. I certainly don't want to take myself away from doing everything I can to advocate for them. You know, at the state and federal level. So I just have to balance that and see whether it makes more sense for me to work on going to Washington and getting the money, or working with the delegation and trying to support that, or being on the ground. Obviously, I did go to the Aspen Acres after the fire as well. But you know, one of the things in disaster management, you never want to interfere with it. So that's the last thing I'd want to do.