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The state of Colorado has seen the worst flooding in decades with at least 6 people confirmed dead and hundreds still missing or unaccounted for. Homes and roads have been destroyed, cars washed away, and thousands have been evacuated. Ongoing rain this morning has hampered rescue efforts.

In Boulder alone more than 150 people were missing. A number of fifth grade students were trapped during a field trip to an education center in Jamestown and parents were nervously getting updates on their children via a Facebook page.

Larimer County’s Sherriff Justin Smith told the New York Times, “[t]he devastation being brought on by this floodwater is almost incomprehensible, especially near the Big Thompson River.” Areas near the Rocky Mountain National Park are also severely flooded. President Obama declared the area a federal disaster zone over the weekend.

According to Climate Central – a think tank of climate science experts – Colorado’s rainfall is a 1 in a 1000 year event, when half a year’s worth of rain fell during just three days. This type of extreme weather is consistent with predictions of a warming planet. The National Weather Service described the rainfall as “biblical,” and NWS Director Louis Uccellini said, “[t]his is clearly going to be a [sic] historic event…[t]he true magnitude is really just becoming obvious now.”

GUESTS: Subhankar Banerjee is a photographer, writer, and activist. He is the founder of ClimateStoryTellers.org, and is editor of the anthology Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point, Jim Pullen is a volunteer reporter at KGNU Community Radio in Boulder, Colorado – he has been covering the flooding and the government’s responses.

Click here to read Subhankar Banarjee’s latest article on the Colorado flooding.