After relentless rains have overtaken eastern Colorado with flood waters that have led to at least four deaths and hundreds stranded, President Obama has declared the area a federal disaster zone.
Many streets have turned into raging rivers, and local emergency crews are working with Army National Guard troops on search-and-rescue missions. "This is a 500-to-1,000-year flood," Sean Conway, a commissioner in Weld County, said at a news conference.
Much of the devastation is documented in photos from the ground, but the scope looks much worse from the air. "It's so crazy here," area resident Geno Verucchi told Business Insider on Friday. "Just about every other street is closed and there are rocks and trees everywhere."
We spotted some videos on the military's Defense Imagery website of two search-and-rescue missions.
Spc. Timothy Clegg shot this video of air crews from 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, which shows residents of Boulder being evacuated in a CH-47 helicopter as well as an aerial rescue in an area where the pilots are unable to land. They use an extraction line to bring up residents stuck below and bring them in to safety.
In this second video, shot by Staff Sgt. Joe Labutka, a CH-47 chinook helicopter from 2nd Bn., 4th Aviation Regt. out of Fort Carson picks up children who were stuck in a school in Jamestown, Colo., and includes devastating aerial shots of the surrounding area.