Colorado Floods, 1-Year Anniversary
By Matt Steiner, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
She pointed to bare studs where walls once framed her finished basement, complete with a wine cellar and a work area for her husband, Greg. Chernushin walked on 100-year-old hardwood floors that were overcome by mold after floodwaters poured into the house in
FEMA ASSISTANCE: THE NUMBERS
11 counties designated for
18 counties designated for
21 communities hosted federal/state Disaster Recovery Centers
1,201 FEMA Public Assistance project worksheets
22,314 individual visits to federal/state Disaster Recovery Centers
28,169 registrations for assistance from the 11 Individual Assistance counties
SOURCE:
WHERE THE MONEY IS GOING
Below is an outline of how much
County Public assistance
Statewide
Weld
SOURCE:
"We're looking at Christmas, maybe," she said, shaking her head and trying to forecast when she, Greg and their dogs Gibbons and
The Chernushins have been holed up in their master suite while contractors remove mold, replace damaged hardwood and bring the western
The 2013 storms began
President
Areas west and north of
State officials estimated
Locally, parts of
The hardest rains and the most damaging floods hit
Click here for before and after photos.
Click here for an interactive timeline of the flooding.
He called that tally extremely conservative because it includes only those who contacted the assessor's office for a valuation. Appraisers checked for external damage and found none.
Some households failed to properly dry out their basement after last year's storms, causing mold to grow and leading to expensive restorations, said
"Once the water went down, the muck was a foot or two deep," Gutherie said.
The women showed photos Wednesday of their damaged homes, including destroyed heirlooms, family photos, a wedding dress and other irreplaceable items.
"All of it was gone," Gutherie said. "But you cry once and then you go on."
Chernushin had a photo of her husband decked out in full mold protection gear, which he used to help remove what his wife called a "very colorful mold collection" that ran up the basement walls and infested the floors of the home built in the early 1900s.
"The drywall sucked up the water, and it went right into our old, fir floors," she said, noting that nearly 50 tons of mud and debris were removed from her and her next-door neighbor's yards during the recovery.
Chernushin said the community pitched in and helped her become the "squeaky wheel" to secure money from the Emergency Watershed Protection program to help with the cleanup.
The Chernushins and the Gutheries will join about 80 others in their community just east of Cheyenne Cañon Park for a picnic Saturday. Chernushin said they will thank each other for lending a hand in the time of need and reflect on the trying week in 2013 and the recovery that continues a year later.
Mitros said the city made repairs in
Private residents such as the Chernushins and Gutheries relied on homeowners insurance or applied for public assistance through the
On Wednesday,
According to
Gov.
"The flooding that began nearly a year ago will be forever etched in
-
Gazette reporter
___
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