The Charts Show How Huge The Colorado Floods Were

For the past six days Boulder, Colorado and nearby areas have been devastated by the worst flooding in decades.

Eight people have reportedly died in the floods, while 18,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed and 648 people still haven't been heard from. The pictures that have been coming out of these areas have been stunning and surreal.

The sheer scale of the flooding can be difficult to image, but a graphic from Reuters gives some idea of two huge factors in the disaster.

First, this chart shows how phenomenal the amount of rainfall Colorado has seen this month. As Bryan Walsh of Time Magazine notes, Boulder itself has already smashed its record for annual precipitation with almost three months left of the year.

Secondly, a map helps give a sense of the sheer scale of the flooding - Reuters notes that the areas affected are nearly the size of the state of Delaware.