Local residents with family and friends on the Front Range watched with horror as floodwaters destroyed homes, devoured roads and cut off communication with loved ones.
Some plan to make care packages or travel to the Denver area to lend a helping hand.
Durango resident Sara Sutherland has family living in Estes Park who are unable to leave the area because of blocked roads. Sutherland’s mother, who lives in the Denver area, tentatively is planning a trip to bring supplies to the family. The only way Sutherland can communicate with her cousins is via the Internet because cellphone towers and landlines are down temporarily. She uses Facebook to check up on them periodically.
Durango native Ann Phillips, who lives in Boulder with her husband, Dave, has opened up her home to people who have been evacuated. Acquaintances in nearby Salina have seen their mountain community practically wiped out, she said. Though her family was not as heavily impacted as some of her friends and neighbors, she is helping the community in various ways.
“We’re within a couple blocks of where those two young 19-year-olds were swept away in the flood down on Linden (Drive),” Phillips said.
Her family’s well house, in a canyon that drains down at the base of Mount Sanitas, has become inaccessible because of the debris blocking it.
Phillips and her husband have been helping their neighbors haul out rubbish from their destroyed basements and also are making contributions to a local community food drive that is providing meals for flood victims.
Phillips and her husband experienced a flood in 1990 in which her family’s basement was destroyed and her well house was completely buried. She found herself needing the assistance of her neighbors.
This time around, she was able to lend the hand that local families desperately needed.
“Rather than having people coming to help us, we have the energy to go help other people,” she said.
Durangoan Jane Henson’s daughter and grandchildren were rescued by a neighbor’s boat from their house near Greeley. Henson’s family was in the process of gathering personal belongings and leaving when the water suddenly rose and they found themselves standing on a small piece of land, she said. The foundation of the house now is completely collapsed. Henson said the house may be a total loss, but that won’t be certain until the sewage water is cleared and damages are assessed.
“It was just high, fast running water,” she said. “It was like a river coming through their place, and it went midway up to the middle of the house. The kitchen was just full of mud.”
Henson now is safe and back in Durango and is planning a trip to visit her daughter next weekend. The images of the flood are still vivid in her mind as she recalled the experience.
“People were chest high and helping get animals out,” she said. “They had two dogs and a couple of cats on this little boat.”
Henson’s daughter’s family is staying with Henson’s other daughter, who lives nearby in a small two-bedroom home. Her youngest grandson is mourning the loss of his favorite toys. Fortunately for him, a local family with two little boys of their own donated some of their toys to Henson’s grandson.
Henson and her friends are in the process of putting together care packages to take to her family on her upcoming visit.
Cindi Shank, executive director of the Southwest Colorado chapter of the American Red Cross, said two local Red Cross volunteers have made their way to the Front Range to provide assistance. They include a health service employee, who is helping provide medical care for about 1,000 people staying in Red Cross shelters, and a damage assessment expert who is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in assessing the damage done to people’s homes.
Shank said the Southwest Colorado chapter is unable to take clothing or furniture donations at this time. There is no way of getting those supplies to the disaster areas, she said.
The Red Cross can take cash donations, which can be done online, in person or via text message.
vguthrie@durangoherald.com
To help
As of now, the Red Cross is unable to accept clothing or furniture donations for flooding victims because of limited transportation. It is able to accept cash donations, which will go directly to families in need. Ways to donate:
Text “REDCROSS” to 90999, and a $10 cash donation will be made to American Red Cross Disaster Relief on your behalf by your cellphone provider.
Online donations can be made at www.redcross.org.
Cash donations can be made in person at the Southwest Colorado Chapter of the American Red Cross, 1911 Main Ave., Suite 282, Durango, CO, 81301.
Call (970) 259-5383 for more information.
