Stars and Bars RestorationIf you've had the weather radio on this week, you already know: after a run of triple-digit heat, the National Weather Service is tracking a shift starting midweek that brings monsoon moisture back into Southern Colorado, with widespread showers and thunderstorms — some heavy — moving through Pueblo, El Paso, and Fremont counties. The Weather Service has specifically called out burn scar flash flooding as a concern for the Aspen Acres and 2024 fire scars, along with urban and low-lying flash flooding wherever soils are already saturated.
The good news: this is a "we can see it coming" event, not a middle-of-the-night surprise. That means there's real time this week to do a handful of things that make a measurable difference in whether your basement stays dry or you're calling us at 2 a.m.
We're Stars and Bars Restoration, based in Colorado City and IICRC certified, and we've spent enough monsoon seasons pulling water out of Pueblo and Fremont County basements to know which five minutes of prep actually pay off. Here's what we'd tell a neighbor.
Why This Round of Storms Is Different
Most summer thunderstorms in Southern Colorado dump rain fast and move on — annoying, but rarely catastrophic on their own. What changes the math this week is where the rain is falling relative to burned ground. Wildfire scars like Aspen Acres lose the vegetation and root structure that normally slows runoff, so instead of soaking in, rainfall sheets off bare, scorched slopes almost immediately. That turns a "normal" half-inch of rain into a fast-moving wall of water and debris downstream — which is exactly why the Weather Service keeps naming burn scars specifically in these advisories.
If you're anywhere downstream or downhill of a burn scar — Beulah, Rye, the Wet Mountain valley, or lower-lying parts of Pueblo and Custer counties — treat this week's forecast seriously, even if the sky above your own house looks calm.
Before the Rain: A Same-Day Checklist
1. Clear your gutters and downspouts. This is the single most-skipped, highest-value task. A gutter clogged with cottonwood fluff and roof grit can send rainwater straight down your foundation instead of away from it. Fifteen minutes with a ladder now beats a wet-vac later.
2. Check your sump pump — actually test it, don't just glance at it. Pour a bucket of water into the sump pit and watch it cycle. If it doesn't kick on, or it sounds different than usual, that's a fix for today, not for after the storm. If you don't have a battery backup and your area loses power during storms (common on the eastern edges of Pueblo County), consider one — a sump pump that dies with the power is no protection at all.
3. Move anything irreplaceable up off the basement floor. Photo albums, important documents, holiday decorations in cardboard — get them up on shelves or out of ground-level storage. Even an inch of water will wick up through cardboard boxes and ruin what's inside.
4. Clear window wells and area drains. Leaves, dirt, and landscaping mulch build up in window wells over the summer and block the drain at the bottom. A blocked window well fills up like a bathtub during heavy rain and can pour straight through the window frame.
5. Know where your water shutoff and breaker panel are — and make sure you can get to them. If a storm knocks out power or you get water intrusion near an outlet, you want to be able to act in seconds, not go hunting for a valve behind stacked boxes.
6. If you're near a burn scar, have an evacuation plan that doesn't depend on the road you usually take. Roads like CO-165 and CO-78 near Aspen Acres were only recently reopened after being closed for over a month because of the fire, and burn-scar flash flooding can close them again fast, sometimes with very little warning. Know a second way out.
What to Do the Moment Water Gets In
Even with good prep, sometimes water still finds a way in — a window well overtops, a sewer backs up under pressure, or runoff finds a crack in the foundation you didn't know was there. If that happens:
- Get people and pets safely away from the water, especially if it's near any electrical outlets or panels
- Take photos before you touch anything — your insurance adjuster will want to see it as it was
- Start moving anything you can lift out of standing water
- Call us. We run 24/7 emergency response and can usually get a truck moving within the hour for Pueblo, Pueblo West, Colorado Springs, and Fremont County addresses
Standing water left overnight is when a bad day turns into a mold problem. If you want the full breakdown of what to do in that first hour, we've got a step-by-step guide in our emergency water damage checklist.
If You Live Near the Aspen Acres Burn Scar Specifically
We've written before about the elevated flood risk on and below burn scars in our piece on burn scar flooding after the Aspen Acres fire and again after the actual flash flooding that damaged homes near Lake Isabel in our Beulah and San Isabel flash flood article. The short version hasn't changed: containment on the fire is up around 72% as of this week and the immediate wildfire threat has eased, but burned ground doesn't stop being a flood risk just because the fire is out. That risk sticks around for one to three more monsoon seasons until vegetation comes back. If you're in Beulah, Rye, San Isabel, or the Wet Mountain valley, this week's forecast is worth taking seriously even if you've been through a scare before and nothing happened.
A Note on Insurance
Most standard homeowners policies exclude flood damage caused by surface water — the kind you'd get from burn scar runoff or overwhelmed drainage — unless you carry a separate flood policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood endorsement. That's different from a pipe bursting or a roof leak, which are typically covered. If you're not sure what your policy actually covers, now — before the storms, not after — is the time to call your agent and ask directly. We covered more of the coverage nuances in our water damage insurance claims guide.
We're Here Before, During, and After the Storm
You don't have to already be flooded to call us. If you want a second set of eyes on your sump pump, your grading, or whether that crack in your foundation wall is something to worry about before this week's storms roll in, give us a call at (719) 676-2456. We're a small, veteran-owned crew based right here in Colorado City, and we'd rather help you prevent a claim than file one.
And if the water does get in despite your best prep, that same number — (719) 676-2456 — gets you a real person, 24 hours a day, who can get a truck moving toward Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fremont County, or anywhere else in Southern Colorado we serve. Stay dry out there.