Biblical Floods In Colorado

Disaster Relief in Northern Colorado

In mid-September of this year the Front-Range of Colorado was hit with unprecedented amounts of rain over a 3-4 day period. In biblical terms, one might think that Noah was going to have to build his second ark because of the torrential rain. Some experts likened the rainfall to 500 year floods that occurred many thousands of years ago. Unfortunately nothing in the floodwater's path survived.

On October 15th, Regis University sent a group of staff, students, and faculty to an organization that regularly provides global disaster relief; Samaritan's Purse. This is a highly organized Christian organization that steps in when needed. They have everything from shovels to T-shirts to support the volunteers who are the backbone of their amazing operation.

Our journey began in the early morning. The temperature was in the 40's and not expected to warm up much throughout the day. Having lived in the Pacific NW for much of my life I was well acquainted with the concept of layering. It turns out this was a good thing because as long as I wasn't moving which admittedly wasn't often, I got cold quickly. We met on the Regis Campus, filled out the multiple forms, and then broke into groups for the trip north towards Longmont and Loveland, CO.  I'd seen many pictures and film clips of the flood but wasn't sure what to expect when we got to our destination. 

Our first stop was at a church so we could coordinate our activities with representatives from Samaritan' Purse. We watched a short video about the organization, obtained bright orange T-shirts that identified us as volunteers and headed out to the country to work on a farm/ranch that had been affected by the flood. Words are difficult to explain the raw force of power that was displayed by the hundreds of thousands of pounds of mud and silt that were deposited around the area. The river totally changed course and encompassed the surrounding land for hundreds of yards, yet a short way up the road other property and houses were completely spared. 

Our task was to remove as much mud and debris as possible around the still standing trees so that their roots could survive. In many ways the silt and mud was so fine it reminded me of volcanic ash a fine and soft substance until it got wet and then becomes as dense as concrete. In retrospect, the mud was much easier to move than the tangled vines, sticks, and everything else that wrapped itself tightly around the trunks of trees, fences, any standing objects, etc as if it had been subjected to a giant swirly. 

In order to untangle the trees you had to find the one piece of debris that seemed to hold everything else in place. Until you did that, nothing would loosen it's hold from the base. By the time we finished our volunteer activities we had cleared more than 50 trees of debris and mud. I must admit that I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day. I was left wondering which type of destruction was worse, those from floods or those from tornadoes. Either way the effects are devastating on those who survive. I don't know if the family who lived at this ranch had flood insurance, but like many Coloradan's I suspect not. The first story of their home was flooded and had already had the mud removed, but there was still a lot more damage to content with. They had a large metal barn in which 1/3 of the land underneath it was completely eroded away causing the structure to precariously perch on what land remained. I can't imagine how one would begin to repair such things other than to level the building and start over somewhere else. But then, a new problem presents itself. The landscape of the ranch has totally changed. What was once a beautiful and serene pasture has now been changed into a dried up tributary of the river. The river carved out a new location for itself now leaving new levels of topography which were not present before. 

My heart continues to ache for those who were subjected to such powerful forces of nature. I doubt anyone in Colorado including the meteorologists could have predicted flooding on such a massive scale. I hope that I have another opportunity to  lend some assistance to those in need because its going to be quite some time before those effected can move on with their lives.