Volunteer Flood Cleanup in Boulder County

Wow.

Sometimes, the words just don’t come as easily, do they?

As I mentioned on Friday, Mama and I spent yesterday volunteering with flood cleanup in Boulder County. Both of us loved that Venus de Miles/Greenhouse Scholars chose to throw their efforts toward helping out our neighbors instead of just calling it a day like so many other races. We had originally thought we’d be sited in Lyons, but it looks like regular volunteers aren’t allowed in town yet. Instead, we ended up at a horse farm in Longmont.

Mama throwing debris in the burn pile

We met the owner of the farm, a stoic man who is a former military sergeant. He introduced himself but couldn’t hold back the tears when he described the horrific flooding images that still reside in his memory. His farm is considered “ground zero” for the Longmont floods since it is where the river first jumped the banks and began spilling into town. He has at least a dozen horses on site, almost all of which were rescued from kill lots, and he was lucky enough to save them all from the flood.

However, his property wasn’t as fortunate and the 3-5 feet of water that swept through the lot destroyed many buildings, leaving only mud, muck and debris behind. Tears eased out of his eyes as he described his neighbor across the street who lost everything; literally. The water flooded his neighbor’s home and all that is left standing is the shell; the house is scheduled for demolition this week.

The structure of his neighbor’s home. The inside is completely gutted

Fifteen of the neighbor’s 40 chickens survived, but that is all the octogenarian has remaining to his name.

Mom and I spent the first chunk of our day in the horse pasture, cleaning out the plants and wood that the flood had carried through the fences. Most of it had gotten caught in the chain link, creating a woven-type of enclosure. It took us about an hour, but we were able to clear out the entire fence line.

The stables, all clean!

Next, we headed over to the stables which were being mucked out by a dozen volunteers. The floors were filled with disgustingly wet and smelly mud, prohibiting the horses from entering for fear of hoof diseases. That crew spent all morning, but they eventually cleaned out all the stables, making them ready for occupants!

Inside of the hay barn. The force of the water ripped through the walls

The hay barn was also destroyed as two feet of water swept through the walls, carrying away almost $5,000 worth of hay. The barn itself was ruined beyond repair, so we simply cleaned out the debris, threw the majority of it in the burn pile, and walked away. Our sergeant is demo-ing the building this week in hopes of creating a new structure.

Finally, we headed over to a few sheds that, once again, the water had ruined. The force of the flood was so strong that the drywall and been ripped off the structure and was littering the ground in various-sized pieces. We picked up all the drywall, bagged it, and cleaned it out of the building. Next, we dealt with the septic muddy muck that was left over. Most everything smelled and likely had live spores and microbes, so most volunteers chose to wear face masks—mom and I sure did.

I’ve said it before, but the floods really struck a cord with me and I’m so glad we were able to help out, even if it was just for one day. Seeing this man who had lost so much of his life really broke my heart. Most people in Colorado don’t have flood insurance (since we barely have any water), so out-of-pocket costs are wrecking them. There were roughly 75-100 volunteers on this site, and it took us three hours to clean up things; I can’t even imagine how difficult it would have been for the horseman to handle it on his own. And of course, not everyone is going to be fortunate to have the assistance. What are these people supposed to do?

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