Minor Flooding Continues in Laramie [PHOTOS]

The flood warning for Laramie remains in effect as minor flooding continues, but no significant impacts are forecast this week.

The river was last reported at 8.2 feet as of 10 a.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service expects the river to rise slowly throughout the week before reaching a crest of 8.7 feet Saturday night.

“A very slow rise,” says Richard Emanuel, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “Kind of rising a little bit over the next couple of days and then going steady, and then picking up again as the warmer temperatures bring some additional snowmelt down the river late in the week.”

Emanuel is hopeful that the Laramie River will stay in the minor flood stage, but he says it could get close to the moderate flood stage at nine feet.

“So just kind of keep a watch on it,” says Emanuel. “Especially over the weekend and into the early part of next week, depending on how much snow does actually melt and how fast it comes down.”

National Weather Service warnings specify several potential impacts should the river swell to nine feet, but Albany County Emergency Coordinator Aimee Binning says the list of impacts is not current.

“Most of the effects noted on the National Weather Service website have been mitigated,” says Binning.

The National Weather Service identifies impacts to homes near the greenway along the right river bank, Sunny Meadows Village along the left bank, Lee Trailer Court north of Curtis Street, and Optimist Park south of Garfield Street.

But Binning says flood mitigation efforts by the City of Laramie, including a berm near the homes at the intersection of Park and Spruce Streets and a baffle system on the drain system leading to the river, have been effective in holding back the rising water.

Binning adds that the greenway closure is likely the most significant problem posed by flooding in Laramie.

“I don’t think we’ll see any other impacts here in the city from this rising water,” says Binning.

(Thanks to Arwen Bernard for submitting some of the photos featured in the gallery above!)