"Colorado Tough", was what Governor Hickenlooper said during his speech after the flood. The Colorado flood was of epic proportions. It was a thousand year flood and did an incredible amount of damage to an innumerable number of peoples' lives. "Coloradans are a tough crowd. We're built differently than other folks.", said governor Hickenlooper, standing there on his crutches.
It's hard to witness something like this. It's tough to see the town where I've lived for four seasons severely damaged and disrupted. It was a hard way to finish an overall great season for me in Colorado. I wish that it would have ended differently..
After it happened everyone in town was in shock. Estes Park was not hit hard compared to all of the larger cities down in the valley. The small towns leading up to Estes Park were completely destroyed and might never come back. The roads leading to and from the were washed out, and so was all of the base below the road. Huge sections just collapsed and fell right into the river and ended up down river, some quite far away. Downtown Estes Park was completely washed out, and all of the small businesses were badly flooded. Places such as Boulder Colorado and many other populated areas right along the front range were badly damaged.
Many people were stuck in their homes and couldn't get out. Thanks to the Colorado National Guard and the many hardworking volunteers this catastrophic flood was not as horrible as it could have been. Everyone was thankful for the rooftop rescues which continued for days afterwards, and sometimes longer. It really was tough to watch, even if the worst was only on television for many of us in Estes Park. We were without cell service for several days after the flood, and the minute it came online again after a temporary tower was set up a week later, everyone called out to say that we were all okay.. After all the state was declared a federal disaster zone, and people were concerned.
I know that it will be rebuilt and it with major improvements over the old infrastructure after it is finally finished. I hope that the people of Colorado will remember what happened, and take care of their precious resources, all which come from the mountains; with great care.
After the flood all of the the temporary seasonal workers were "advised" to leave as quickly and safely as possible. People come together and listen when catastrophes happen. It's sad that sometimes it takes an event such as this to get people to listen. All of the employees that had been having the time of their lives in the mountains, picked up and left within a few more days. We all lost at least a months worth of pay and work, and there was some damage to the property. We were all the lucky and were the fortunate ones in this case.
After cleaning up the apartment where I had been living I packed my recently purchased ten year old Subaru Outback with my belongings. I packed it with the belongings of my sister and two other employees, and close friends, from the company. The car was so jam packed with clothes, gear, food and suitcases that even though the entire trunk was full; and the backseat partially full; a suitcase still had to be attached with bungee cords to the roof. We all crawled in with stuff at our feet, and on our laps and set off to get out. Except that's not what we did.. We set off on a 6,000 mile, 16 day road trip around the western United States. There's nothing like a great journey to get you back on your feet after a summer ending catastrophic thousand year flood! That's the way I handled it, put it behind me literally..
Rebuild, remake and re-inhabit we will - but do it wisely. The canyons where the houses were destroyed - perhaps they should remain empty of human homes and left with only roads for transportation. Not every corner of the world needs to be civilized. Some of it ought to be left wild like the tops of mountains, and the areas of the country near, or even below, sea level. We would be doing everyone a favor in the long run. The sad part is, many times when a catastrophe happens people rebuild the same infrastructure that was there before, and only with minimal improvements. What's going to happen in that same place in another 50 years? Another catastrophe? Instead I hope that people will think outside the box, "blaze their own path", build it better this time..
~ Nick Whittemore (February 2014)
This was a tough one for me to write, and I've been putting it off for months.. The next post should be a more positive one about the road trip.
The Colorado flood happend on September 12th, 2013. A great portion of the homes, towns, and roads are already rebuilt. That's good. :)
