The risk of spring floods is running high in Colorado, leading towns across the state to open sand-bagging stations, urge people to buy renters insurance and in the case of one museum, pack its entire collection and send it elsewhere.

The flood risk is due to heavy snowpack, multiple avalanches that left debris piled up and June rain, emergency management officials have said.

The most drastic preparation is taking place in Hinsdale County where federal, state and local governments are coming together to dismantle the Hidden Treasure Dam outside Lake City. It will cost nearly $1 million to remove the dam but engineers determined the potential flood damage would be far more costly.

The owners, as well as state and local representatives, determined the dam likely wouldn’t survive high flow spring runoff, according to a news release. If it gets destroyed during a flood, it could lead to a surge of debris causing significant damage to Lake City.

The Hinsdale County Museum in Lake City has moved its collections off site and stored them in various locations across the state, Michael Davis, who is a spokesman for the group coordinating the flood control plan, said.

Road closures remain in effect in Hinsdale County — County Road 20 at Henson Creek Road/Engineer Pass, and County Road 30 at Lake Road/Cinnamon Pass. County officials released a map of potential evacuation routes in the event of an emergency as well as a map for areas of concern for flooding in Lake City.

Hinsdale County is looking at purchasing a new emergency siren or at least borrowing one in case of flooding. The town already has one siren system installed and is testing another, Davis said.

“They are working as hard as they can on their mitigation plan, trying to keep the town of Lake City safe,” he said.

It’s not just state and local officials who are doing mitigation work — volunteers were asked to help with sandbagging and government employees are still asking for volunteers to help with mitigation work. To find out more, go to coloradoresponds.communityos.org.

In other areas of the state, emergency officials are monitoring conditions on burn scars left over from the 2018 summer fire season. Those areas include the 416 fire area that burned 85 square miles outside of Durango, the Spring Creek Fire site in Costilla and Huerfano counties and the Lake Christine Fire in Eagle County.

“Since the end of fire season last year, we have been working with all of the areas that had wildfires last year because we know there’s a good chance they could get flooding the following years,” Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokeswoman Micki Trost said.

Statewide, emergency officials are in constant communication with county emergency operations centers and monitoring weather service outlooks and flooding threat outlooks. They’re looking at flooding risks from precipitation and snow, said Colorado Emergency Management Operations Section Chief Chris Sorensen, and those predictions change daily.

As counties prepare for potential flooding, officials are turning to residents in hopes of mitigating the risks.

The town of Silverthorne has sandbags available during business hours at its Public Works building, 264 Brian Ave., and sand at 26250 Highway 9.

In preparation for heavy runoff season, sandbags are available at Public Works at 264 Brian Ave Mon-Fri from 8am-5pm. Sand is located at the Hamilton Creek mailboxes and at Public Works Cottonwood Shop between the shop & the Joint Sewer Authority at 26250 Highway 9. pic.twitter.com/Z8BbR4gYog — Town of Silverthorne (@SilverthorneCO) June 3, 2019

Chaffee County established a public sandbag filling station at the fairgrounds at 10165 County Road 20, which is open to residents for free 24 hours a day. Buena Vista also has a sandbag filling station at 755 Gregg Drive open to residents 24 hours a day.

Summit County also has options listed for its residents to obtain sandbags at www.summitcountyco.gov.

Residents in flood-prone areas should be sure to sign up for emergency notifications from their counties to get early warning, said Trost from the state’s emergency management office. Her office also highly recommends everyone get additional flood insurance, which isn’t normally covered under homeowner and renter’s policies.