Boulder residents create a barrier to direct rushing water away from their apartment complex on the corner of Arapahoe and 7th during the September 2013 flood. The residents used plastic bags filled with gravel and mud to hold up plywood boards preventing the water from flooding their apartments. (Nate Bruzdzinski/CU Independent)

April marked the beginning of the flood season in Colorado and CU is making a continued effort to get the word out to students. Flood safety is more of a priority for the administration this year than in previous years because of the floods that rocked the Front Range last September.

“Last fall heightened everyone’s awareness, and that’s a good thing,” said Stuart Pike, CU’s director of emergency management.

He said CU was lucky to be located where it is, because if the campus was farther north, the damage could have been much worse.

“Nobody had ever anticipated or seen an event like that take place before,” Pike said.

In the event of a flood, students should stay out of the water and listen to the warnings the CU administration and the city of Boulder issue, Pike said.

Pike urges students to sign up for CU’s emergency communication system, CU alerts and Boulder County’s emergency communication system, Everbridge.

Lisa Marcum, a junior English and communication double major, said she was evacuated last fall after her basement retained eight inches of water.

Marcum said she and her roommates aren’t prepared for another flood like the one in September.

“Our property managers don’t take it very seriously,” Marcum said.

Pike said he felt that since most students experienced the flood last fall, it will make them more cognizant of flood danger in the future.

“We have a great bunch of young people on this campus, and they pay attention,” Pike said.

For more information on flood safety, click here.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Samuel.klomhhaus@colorado.edu.