Hank and Stacey Wills had been through a flood before. That experience, they now admit, is exactly what made them stay too long. On 22 October, as heavy rain pushed the Rio Blanco River over its banks near Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado, the couple spent eleven hours trapped in their overturned motorhome before a National Guard helicopter winched them, three dogs and two cats to safety.
The sequence of events reads like a cautionary tale. Archuleta County issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying areas along four river corridors that afternoon, and a sheriff's deputy personally told the Wills to leave. But remembering the previous year's flooding, when water never entered their house, they figured they had hours to spare. They sandbagged, tarped, and moved the chickens and rabbits first. By late evening the sandbag barrier had failed. Around 10:30 P.M. Hank drove the motorhome onto a flooded road, the engine stalled, and tow trucks couldn't reach them once bridges were closed.
What followed was a night of improvisation. Deputy Craig Tamburelli threw them a rescue line anchored to a table leg inside the RV; twenty minutes later the current flipped the vehicle, ripping the line loose and sweeping it 75 yards downstream into their fence. The couple huddled with their pets on a bathroom ledge above the rising water. Rescuers briefly lost track of the motorhome, then relocated it, and a drone with thermal imaging helped monitor Stacey for hypothermia until a helicopter could fly at first light. All seven people and animals were airlifted to Stevens Field by around 1 P.M. on 23 October. In a small comic relief, their missing cat Gomer turned up hiding in a kitchen drawer, and rode to the helicopter zipped into a backpack.
The house survived; several outbuildings didn't. Hank's parting advice is blunt: figure out in advance what you can and can't take with you, and when officials say go, go.
Why should travellers care? Because this is the scenario that catches road-trippers every year, from desert flash floods in Utah to storm-swollen rivers in the Alps. An RV or campervan feels substantial, but it's exactly the wrong vehicle in moving water — it floats, stalls, and tips. The lesson generalises: check evacuation orders the moment you arrive anywhere rural, know your exit route, and never assume past floods predict the next one. If you're travelling with pets, this story is also a reminder that carriers and plans for them should be sorted before an emergency, not during one.
For anyone travelling in southwestern Colorado, Pagosa Springs remains a rewarding base — hot springs, San Juan National Forest trails, and access to the Wolf Creek Pass country — but mountain storms can turn a quiet creek into a hazard fast, especially in monsoon season and spring runoff.
Credit: Outside Online
