36 stories

Lyons

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:22:20 +0000

Lyons Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/07/2014 - 13:22 Annie Melton

Lyons, Colo., is a great place to raise a family. It’s a great place to be a musician, an artist or a small business owner, a great place if you like the outdoors.

None of its 2,000 residents are there for the same reason, other than that it’s their great place. A self-sufficient mountain town nestled in the foothills on Highway 36 between Boulder and Estes Park — and at the confluence of the North and South St. Vrain Creeks — Lyons is the idealistic realization of those who call it home.

Which made the September floods all the more unsettling. Musicians and artists lost their studios and galleries; schools were shut down; trails, streets and highways broke into pieces, swallowed by mud. In the wee hours of Sept.12, when the sirens began to wail, people scrambled onto rocky hillsides or their own rooftops to elevate themselves above the roaring river that had somehow made its way to their doorsteps.

The St. Vrain ripped the town into six islands. All roads in and out crumbled. But somehow, despite panic and shock, the people of Lyons managed to get out of the water’s way. Once the rains subsided, they organized themselves and began the rebuilding process.

“It’s like everyone was given a role, and they knew what it was and how to do it,” said Tamara Haddad, Lyons Chamber of Commerce administrator.

They needed immediate help, of course, and received it—from FEMA, the Red Cross, Boulder County and volunteers around the state. But the recovery process has been largely internal, driven by the residents’ desires to preserve their personal utopias.

“We’re not as complex as a city”

Julie Van Domelen moved to Lyons in 2005 and became mayor four years later. A Colorado native, she spent almost two decades with the World Bank as a senior economist and was looking to settle down with her husband and young daughter.

Van Domelen still volunteers internationally, evaluating infrastructure development programs in third-world countries. She was in Tanzania when the flooding began and arrived back in Lyons four days later, constantly checking in with her family during the 96 hours of hellish travel.

By the time she returned, many residents had been evacuated and town administrator Victoria Simonsen was leading the remaining population, holding meetings in the open space of Sandstone Park, a couple of blocks from Main Street.

“They were just on it,” Van Domelen said. “Lyons was on it, Boulder County was on it. All hands were on deck.”

Simonsen and other town officials continued to play an important part in the aftermath, but Van Domelen’s presence brought “a great synergy,” Tamara Haddad said.

“It became more than just organization at that point,” Haddad said. “It became a nurturing, empowering environment.”

Lyons set realistic goals for itself, independent of the larger post-flood initiatives led by the state and county governments. In the second half of September, many of the residents who lost their homes were living elsewhere. Some drove to Lyons during the day to take part in the relief effort; some stayed in town with neighbors, friends or family. Even those whose properties were undamaged had still lost basic amenities and were facing painful conversations with FEMA and insurance agents. But their collective focus was unwavering.

“We continued holding the public meetings to field questions and pass along important information,” said Mayor Van Domelen, herself displaced by the disaster. “The thing is, we’re not as complex as a city. You can go over to-do lists with everyone, take things day by day. People started seeing visible progress, and that’s important in remaining hopeful.”

In the first days after the weather cleared, residents communicated via handwritten notes they posted in town. They had no power, no cell service; there was no other way.

“It was just old school word-of-mouth,” Haddad said. “There was a period of time when the main thing everyone was worried about was making sure everyone else was accounted for. So a list of names went up, of people we didn’t know about. And they or someone who knew about them would come up and check them off the list and write, ‘Yep, they’re here.’”

Lyons’s overwhelming to-do list became a string of accomplishments. Six weeks after the floods, people were coming home to stay. They were able to host the Halloween Parade that lights up Main Street every fall. Utilities returned in October and November, and residents could stop boiling their water. Businesses reopened, and after Thanksgiving break, kids who had been attending school in Longmont could finally do so in their own town.

Morale rose with every passing day. Residents decorated their homes with Christmas ornaments. Even the houses that had collapsed or been swept from their foundations had festive baubles hanging next to the bright red signs that meant “uninhabitable.”

A “sense of preparedness”

“I came. I fell in love. I stayed. I think I’m an ordinary story for these parts.”

Tamara Haddad has been doing it all since September. In addition to helping her neighbors through the acts of kindness that have become a standard part of daily life in Lyons, she oversees a variety of blossoming recovery efforts from her post in the Chamber of Commerce. She’s also become a sort of spokeswoman, speaking to the media and giving tours of the town.

Haddad was attracted to Lyons by “a strong connection to the simplicity of the good living it offers,” drawn by its independence and the fact that every shop is local.

The quaint white house she shared with her husband and two children wasn’t damaged, but they decided to move anyway — “to higher ground,” she said. “You think there’s a romance to living along the river, but nope. Not anymore.”

There is another reason. A row of properties across the street from Haddad was destroyed; a woman who lived in one of them will be moving into Haddad’s former home.

Haddad wasn’t jolted by the flood sirens that sounded at 2 a.m. on Sept. 12. What roused her was her husband saying, “Get the kids.”

“Looking outside, it took a while to sink in how bad it was,” she said. “The water eventually got so high, houses were popping from their lots. The road bubbled up.”

People were being rescued soon after, but not by the National Guard — they wouldn’t arrive for another two days.

“Neighbors were using their own equipment to get to others who were isolated,” Haddad said. “Somehow, it never felt like chaos. At one point, I saw a mom and her kids and their Sheltie being driven from their home in a neighbor’s backhoe. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.”

Lyons resident Jason Bowen, a model and actor who commutes to Denver for work, was on his way to check on a friend’s elderly parents when he saw a family of seven struggling to hike above four feet of raging water. Bowen climbed over debris and waded through the shallowest level he could find to get to them.

“They told me they had started hiking at 10 a.m.,” Bowen said. “It was 6 p.m. They were exhausted and didn’t know where to go.”

Bowen led them safely to his neighbor’s, where the family stayed for three days.

Later, Lyons mourned the loss of 80-year-old Gerald Boland, who had moved to town in 1959. Somehow, despite the treacherous conditions, his was the only death, a “stunning” tribute to the town’s internal organization, Mayor Van Domelen said.

“Where Lyons is located, we’re aware of the flood risks, but you don’t think it’s ever actually going to happen,” she said. “But there was this sense of preparedness.”

When the National Guard did arrive, Lyons was relieved; they were finally connected to the outside world. And they could give their rescue vehicles — tractors, riding lawnmowers — a rest.

“Restoring Lyons”

River silt will still dust anything that remains motionless for too long, but Lyons has found some sense of normalcy. It faces $50 million in overall damage and will be defined by the recovery for years to come, but the people, for the most part, have their lives back.

Jason Bowen is helping his friend Jeremy Ragland remodel a building on Main Street that was formerly an antique shop. It will serve as a place for community get-togethers, meetings of the minds for propelling Lyons into the New Year and beyond. That had always been the plan, even before September.

“It’s become especially important now, after the flood,” Ragland said. “It’ll be a place of higher consciousness, greater ideas. A think tank.”

Lyons has always fostered expression. An artistic haven for almost half a century, it brought in people who were disenchanted by the growth of larger cities and looking for a more intimate environment. Its reputation and affordability drew Candace Shepherd here 26 years ago.

“It has a great history of being accessible, otherwise artists couldn’t move in,” Shepard said. “But it’s the lower-income housing that sits along the confluence that was hurt the most. Restoring that will be restoring Lyons.”

Shepard’s studio space stayed dry during the floods, but her house, only one lot away, did not fare as well. Volunteers from the Denver region of AmeriCorps spent days digging out the silt that had filled her basement and threatened the home’s structure. But everything is relative. “I’m fine,” she said simply. “Everybody is doing hard things.”

There are plenty of long-term issues moving forward, many of which will be influenced by state and Boulder County legislation. The town needs federal aid to enhance the stability it has provided itself.

Lyons has received approximately $4.9 million in FEMA grant money since September, according to FEMA spokesman John Mills. On a case-by-case basis for 1,194 households, FEMA dispersed $2.6 million in rental assistance and $2.3 million in other needs: home repairs, replacement of personal property, medical expenses.

“There is no blanket amount of money,” Mills said. “Assistance is determined by individual family situations and basic needs.”

Despite the variety of relief efforts, the town is still visibly scarred. Bohn Park in central Lyons was decimated. As recently as December, benches were splintered and tangled with tree branches, and the water carved out such a wide path it looks as if the once-green sprawl is an enormous, dried-out riverbed.

Somehow, a children’s playground was spared, sitting untouched atop a grassy knoll. The newly forged path of the river swerves around it. Lyons residents are grateful. Their town is a great place for kids.

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Boulder Valley schools found strength through the flood

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Boulder Valley schools found strength through the flood Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/11/2013 - 13:22 Lauren Maslen

Boulder Valley schools sustained nearly $5 million in damage because of September's flooding, and now — nearly three months after water poured through several buildings and inundated athletics fields, playgrounds and parking lots — district officials say the repairs are nearly complete. Better yet, the repairs are virtually all paid for.

Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin said that a combination flood insurance reimbursements, FEMA money from the federal government, grants from the state, and funds raised by the Colorado non-profit Impact on Education, will cover almost all of BVSD’s losses.

“One of the things about a crisis is that people don’t stop and ask, ‘Is that my area?’ People just do it. People organize quickly and they identify needs quickly,” Gamblin said.

Boulder Valley School District is the seventh largest school district in Colorado. More than half of BVSD’s buildings were damaged in September’s floods and four of those buildings received, “moderate to severe damage,” according to a letter written by Superintendent Bruce K. Messinger to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. This wasn’t the first flood Boulder experienced, but it was unique in the challenges it presented, Gamblin said. The floods blocked off access to all of Boulder’s major canyons, making made BVSD’s job of getting help to the schools, students, and teachers difficult, but even more imperative.

Immediately after the flood, disaster recovery crews at Crest View Elementary, Foothill Elementary, Community Montessori Elementary, Mesa Elementary, Platt Middle, Boulder High and Centaurus High cost the district $1.6 million. Playground repairs at Eldorado K-8, Flatirons Elementary and Ryan Elementary also needed to be done, and Boulder High's athletic fields needed substantial work.

But it was two elementary schools — Crest View in north Boulder and Jamestown Elementary in Jamestown — that suffered the most damage and disruption. Flood waters surged through 85 percent of Crest View and kept kids out of school for longer than two weeks. Jamestown Elementary didn't sustain as much damage, but the town's near-total evacuation forced the school to split into two units housed in different buildings, neither in Jamestown.

"We’re still not recovered," said Jill Williams, a kindergarten enrichment teacher at Crest View. "I think it won’t really be right until spring and maybe not completely normal until next fall.”

Crest View strong

Merlyn Holmes was awakened by a phone call during the night of Sept. 12.

“Our first thoughts were, ‘Oh goody, we have a rain day!’ We were a bit slow on the uptake. It seemed more like a snow day than an emergency,” Holmes said.

Holmes’ property is safely nestled near a retention pond not far from Crest View Elementary. “We watched that retention pond fill and drain and fill and drain repeatedly. It was really very beautiful and peaceful,” she said.

As the day progressed, however, Holmes and her family quickly realized the severity of the rain. The family walked to the Broadway underpass near their house, and realized the flood waters were raging.

“Our big question was: where were these waters going?” Holmes said. “It was only later the next day that we visited Crest View and we were shocked at seeing all the flood damage. There was a waterfall going through the playground.”

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Included in Messinger’s letter to Gov. Hickenlooper was a cost estimate submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Among those costs? An alternate program site for Crest View students, food spoilage, fiber optic network damage, reconstruction, remediation, and cleanup.

Officials realized the challenge that lay before them on Thursday, Sept. 12.

“The one school that really sustained some damage beyond that which could be handled by our maintenance people was Crest View Elementary School,” Gamblin said.

Holmes’ 6-year-old son, Landryk, was out of school for two-and-a-half weeks.

“We did a lot of juggling at that time with work schedules and trying to figure out what would be best for our son,” she said.

An alternate program was made available through a partnership between BVSD and the YMCA. Teachers and some substitutes held classes at the Lafayette YMCA, including Williams, whose class became very interested in learning about rain.

“It was only natural to look out the window and talk about something we were experiencing and feeling depressed over, together,” Williams said. She shared the book “What Makes Rain: the Story of a Raindrop” with her kindergarteners.

Williams said that other teachers connected with their students during the flood in a multitude of ways, including video lessons and websites set up with lessons and educational material.

Buses were provided for students to attend the program, which was offered at $50 per day to families and at no cost to those who self-identified as being on free and reduced-price lunch programs.

Volunteers offered to help at the school, Gamblin said, but because of health and safety concerns, professionals had to be brought in to do the job first. Thirteen days of non-stop construction and repair work aided in recovering the school from much of the damage. “Machines were clunking away at Crest View at 3 a.m.,” Gamblin said. “The neighbors were great. They also suffered damage and they were very supportive.”

Anything that was absorbent had to go — materials, books, shelving, drywall, and carpets. What could be salvaged was loaded into unmarked cardboard boxes for teachers to sort through once they were allowed to return to the building.

Home Depot built shelving for teachers and puppet theaters for the kindergarten classrooms. Numerous businesses and other schools donated supplies and books to Crest View.

"KidKraft donated free items to the kindergarten teachers, so I received a dollhouse for my room," Williams said.

SERVPRO, the company in charge of cleaning and restoration of the school, also threw a Halloween party for their own staff and Crest View faculty.

The school’s outdoor vegetable garden and its habitat and wetlands areas are still damaged. Asbestos and mold tests are continuing to be conducted throughout the year. And until recently, hot lunches were prepared off-site and brought to the school for lunchtime.

But is the school back to “normal" yet?

“Kids are so adaptable at this age,” Holmes said. The students were able to settle back into a day-to-day routine of learning, “even when they were on concrete floors and had no books on the shelves.”

Williams credited the school's community and Principal Ned Levine, calling them both "amazing."

“We never could have recovered without either of them," Williams said.

Gamblin acknowledged neither he nor the school district, in the immediate aftermath of the flood, knew exactly how big a challenge BVSD faced.

Holmes said that although there is always room for improvement, she was impressed with how BVSD has handled the situation.

“The one area where I hope all this will have a lasting impact on the children is in not taking things for granted and being grateful. I know we parents feel that and I’m sure the staff and faculty do, too,” Holmes said. “Some children donated their life savings — their piggy banks — to the Crest View fund. They were aware that this was a big deal and they were really happy to have a school to go to and to help.”

Teachers adapted lesson plans to help students understand the flood and its impact. They asked: How does a rain cycle work? Why is rain good for our planet and how could it be harmful in a flood? And maybe most importantly: How can we help our community?

This lesson wasn't just one for the kids. It was one for the adults, too, one they're still learning as they try to get back to "normal."

A home for Jamestown Elementary

Jamestown Elementary School was also a challenge, but for different reasons, Gamblin said.

The school was used as an evacuation center for the town and “will need some soap and water,” he said.

Jamestown’s challenge is on a different level than Crest View’s.

The school is intact and the students are learning. The town, meanwhile, faces an overhaul, leaving the school to play a waiting game.

“We’re just waiting for full-town service access,” Gamblin said.

Jamestown, Colo., suffered extreme devastation after September’s floods. With only some roads recently repaired, structures still damaged, and a water distribution system that remains offline, the town’s school, Jamestown Elementary, was forced to split and relocate for the year.

After September’s floods, Beth Brotherton, Principal Scott Boesel's assistant, decided to remain in her home in Jamestown and with her students.

The new "Jamestown West" recently settled into its new home for the year in Glacier View Ranch at Colorado Mountain Conference Center in Ward, Colo. The school currently has 14 students in first through fifth grade and two instructors, including Brotherton.

Meanwhile, "Jamestown East" is located in a classroom in Community Montessori in Boulder. The classroom is home to six students in third through fifth grade, and one part-time kindergartener. The students’ teacher from Jamestown Elementary went with her students to their new classroom in Boulder.

Many families from Jamestown Elementary are open-enrolled and their homes are located above the mountains. They received minimal water damage, Brotherton said. Shortly after the flood, The families met to discuss what would be best for the town, their children’s education, and for the well-being of each of their families.

One first grader’s family offered its home to use as a school. The local volunteer fire department helped bring in tables for students to work on. Carpets were removed and a cork floor was installed.

On the first Wednesday back in class, 16 children showed up to their new classroom.

“We stayed there for six weeks and we taught there for six weeks,” Brotherton said.

Volunteers came to teach music lessons twice a week. Recess was held in the backyard with a swing set and fort, and the kids ate lunch at the picnic tables outside.

This temporary school was something the children will remember forever. It couldn’t last, though.

“The district brought us all together and asked us what we wanted. We knew we couldn’t legally stay there,” Brotherton said.

BVSD planned to use modular classrooms on the property of Glacier View Ranch. But between high costs, wind, and the trouble of transporting the modulars along the severely damaged roads, officials quickly realized this wouldn’t work.

The district negotiated with Glacier View Ranch to use a building on the property. “A beautiful log cabin, actually. It’s as big as Jamestown Town Hall,” Brotherton said.

Brotherton said learning is definitely happening at Glacier View Ranch. The building is “very homey... It’s a good place for the kids.”

“It really is amazing how well it’s working out,” Brotherton said. “We feel really safe up there. The district really took care of us. They did a good job.”

Private schools also suffer

Listen to the audio story below by Lauren Maslen to learn about how Homestar Child Development Center was affected by the flood. Below that is a video story by Joseph Wirth on Boulder's Waldorf Kindergarten.

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Boulder's treacherous journey to flood recovery and resilience

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 19:58:02 +0000

Boulder's treacherous journey to flood recovery and resilience Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/11/2013 - 12:58 Lars Gesing

Meteorologists estimate that one inch of rain generally equals about a foot of snow, depending on the snow’s density, of course. That means early December’s 6-inch snowfall, inconvenient as it may have been, was the equivalent of about a half-inch of September rain.

Now flash back just three months, when dozens of Colorado communities were drowned in the misery of a relentless surge of rainwater, mud and debris that broke its way through major portions of the state’s Front Range and Eastern Plains.

Seventeen inches of rain poured down during those eight days in mid-September. Do the math — that’s somewhere around 17 feet of snow, if that precipitation had come this month. As rain, though, the water caused a flood the National Weather Service quickly described as a 1,000-year event. The scars it carved into canyons and communities alike will remain palpable for years to come.

In those three months that have passed since the flood, the city of Boulder has managed to re-establish a facade of normalcy. City life soon fell back into routines once the waters receded and the worst – meaning most visible – impacts had been cleaned up.

Yet much work still remains to be done. The city plans to complete repairs of the water system and wastewater facility by spring 2014 and restore a majority of city areas to pre-flood conditions by the end of 2015.

Also, as nearly one-third of all Colorado households damaged by floodwaters lie within Boulder and about 15 percent of all city households were damaged (see graph), three months is barely enough to get back to normal.

Just ask Michele Vion and you’ll learn how fresh the wounds cut by disaster still are.

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Physically ripping out the toilet

While the floodwaters spared Vion’s family home in South Boulder near Table Mesa, five inches of raw sewage accumulated in her basement.

A Boulder City Council summary of the flood noted: “The majority of impacts were located outside of regulatory floodplains due primarily to groundwater and sewage backups.”

Vion translated the official jargon: “The sewage came literally out of every hole.”

In her desperation, she ripped the toilet out of the ground with her bare hands, hoping to cap the welling fountain it had turned into. It did not work.

“At some point, we just gave up and waited for it to be over,” Vion said. She and her family waited six days.

Three months later, Vion’s basement is still a construction site. To physically restore normalcy in her home, the mother of five had to spend $40,000. A sewage insurance policy paid her $5,000, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cut a $2,000 check. Vion will spend years to repay the remaining $33,000 through a low-interest loan.

She shares her fate with many families across the city. Some, like Christine and Ari Rubin who suffered an estimated $30,000 damage, were covered by FEMA flood insurance they had just recently bought after the city mailed a postcard to their home advising them to do so. But many others are now shaken with regret because they did not do the same thing.

Faced with many residents’ anger, the city has since deliberated over possibilities to prevent similar damage from occurring. Councilwoman Suzanne Jones urged city council during a Dec. 3 “lessons learned” meeting to take immediate action.

"If we have another flood and we have these kinds of sewer backups again, people will have our heads if we haven't at least looked at this," she said.

Flood recovery costs $43 million

Jeff Arthur, director of the Boulder utilities division, estimated the city will need $400 million to improve existing wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to a level where it would be able to withstand a disaster like this year’s flood. Usually, his department spends about 1 percent of that amount, or $4 million, on improvements.

He told Jones during the meeting that it was a question of how much investment the city was willing to make over time.

With an already tight budget, money is scarce within city government post-flood. Recovery costs keep rising and are currently estimated at $43 million.

That number includes repair bills for more than 50 damaged city buildings; water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure; Open Spaces and Mountain Parks (OSMP) restoration, sediment and debris removal as well as repair costs for damaged roads and sidewalks.

FEMA will reimburse 75 percent of the city’s recovery costs, another 12.5 percent of expenses will flow back into city pockets from the state capitol, leaving Boulder with a bill of least $5 million. The bulk of that money comes from a disaster reserve fund and flex repair dollars, pretty much emptying those pots.

The situation left Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum worried about “the next event that is going to happen without those funds,” whether it would be a fire – “or something else.”

The immediate impact on the city’s financial situation is even worse. Boulder Chief Financial Officer Bob Eichem told city council it would take FEMA between six months and two years to transfer the money back onto city bank accounts.

However, he said, they wanted to “rebuild the reserves within one year.”

More financial help is coming from Washington, D.C. On Dec. 5, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved a $63 million cash injection “to help our communities recover from the flood.”

Days after the floods hit town, then-candidate and now elected councilman Sam Weaver said the event would “give the city a chance to assess how we did with the flood” and improve accordingly.

Three months later, those mitigation efforts have gathered momentum.

“We don’t want to take things back to the way they were, but we want to make them better,” finance director Eichem said. And City Manager Jane Brautigam made a case during a recent city council meeting to recover from the flood in a way that would leave the community “more resilient than before.”

While Mayor Appelbaum supports the city’s mitigation efforts, he emphasizes financially sound decisions, distributing existing funds to where they are most needed.

“For certain types of floods, there is just nothing we can do,” he said. “Especially because the water doesn’t always go where we think it is going.”

Canyonside Office Park, 100 Arapahoe St. in Boulder, was destroyed in the September 2013 flood. Photo by Lars Gesing.

City trying to help aching business community

According to Boulder Chamber of Commerce CEO John Tayer, those in need are to a great extent local businesses.

“They have borne a heavy toll in terms of infrastructure damage and business disruption,” Tayer said.

Flood-related closures and dislocations ranging from reduced sales traffic to lost inventory worsened the situation.

As City Manager Brautigam noted in a memo sent to city council members on Dec. 3, the non-profit organization Downtown Boulder Inc. still receives calls from people asking if it was possible again for them to get to Boulder after the floods.

Tayer said there was a general sense that the flood has had a long-term economic impact because residents and tourists have reduced disposable income to spend at retail stores and in restaurants around town.

“Finally, the floods dampered tourism to our community,” Tayer said.

The Chamber president himself was among those who had to gut their basements after the floods. As did so many others, the Tayer family dealt with serious stress. His wife, Molly, the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder, had to respond to a number of unique challenges herself. It was her task to ensure that those who were displaced in the aftermath of the flood still had a chance to vote in the November elections.

Boulder city government tried to respond to local businesses struggles by partnering with Downtown Boulder Inc. and Twenty Ninth Street to run the marketing campaign “Buy into Boulder.” The ads placed in late November and December are supposed to remind holiday shoppers that for every $100 spend in Boulder, $3.41 flows into the pockets of community services and programs.

The more the city sends the message “buying and dining local,” the more money it makes through sales taxes.

New data from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) shows just how much local businesses need help to get back on their feet.

The SBA has approved $7.5 million in business and economic injury loans for businesses from all around the county that were affected by the flood.

SBA spokesperson Garth MacDonald said he was unable to break down the data to city-level, but his organization would “work with Boulder County applicants to fully complete and process applications” that have yet to be approved.

Flood Rebuilding & Permit Information Center there to assist

Despite all the efforts, it is common political consensus that recovery efforts can be successful only in cooperation with the county.

Therefore, Boulder County opened the Flood Rebuilding & Permit Information Center at its Land Use Department in downtown Boulder three weeks after the disastrous surges hit the Front Range.

The center is a “one-stop portal for people with their various flood-related questions and issues,” staff member Cindy Pieropan said.

Up to six employees deal with a couple dozen daily inquiries, a lot of them related to damaged or destroyed homes, access issues because of broken roads or problems with the septic system.

Pieropan said the center would remain open for at least one, but more likely two more years to deal with the aftermath of the flood.

“A flood is different than for example a fire, which doesn’t damage roads,” she explained. With winter approaching rapidly and with brutal force, it becomes increasingly hard to repair roads before spring, Pieropan said, pointing out that flood impacts tended to be long-term.

Boulder County Flood Recovery Manager Gary Sanfacon explained in a recent video-message to citizens that debris was still one of the core issues in the recovery process.

“A lot of debris has come up on private properties,” Sanfacon said. It was also still in the creeks and could pose future hazards, which is why the county started to implement a debris pick-up program, a collaborative citizen cleaning effort.

Meanwhile, the city of Boulder has managed to break down the number of key objectives for the near-term flood recovery to five. A memo to city council members lists the following activities:

Help people get assistance;
Restore and enhance infrastructure;
Assist business recovery;
Pursue and focus resources to support recovery efforts; and
Learn together and plan for the future.

The city also focuses on restoring the 10 percent of trails in the open spaces that remain closed at this point. A special case is the popular Royal Arch Trail. It was the most severely damaged of all trails in the system. OSMP director Mike Patton and his team keep evaluating best practices on how to rebuild Royal Arch Trail.

In his letter to the editor of the Daily Camera dated Oct. 8, Boulder resident Jim Martin sums up the 17 lessons he learned from the flood. Despite all the misery the devastating floods brought over the city, the county, and the state, Martin’s ultimate lesson is an acknowledgement of outstanding community recovery efforts.

Martin wrote: “There is a little bit of heaven in every disaster area.”

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Boulder County organic farm struggles to recover after flood

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Boulder County organic farm struggles to recover after flood Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/09/2013 - 13:22 Gloria Dickie

The horses are at it again.

Restless hooves beat sand and silt into the air. Trots evolve into canters as mustangs and miniatures dance to an impatient rhythm under a Rocky Mountain sky.

“What is going on out there today?” Sara Martinelli murmurs to herself, moving to stand by the barn’s window.

Cool, white manes whip around in the autumn wind, a sign an iron-shoed tempest is slowly brewing.

Rubbing a tiny, silver horseshoe necklace between her thumb and index finger, Martinelli, the co-owner of Three Leaf Farm in Lafayette, Colo., trains her eye on the instigators — two minis named Cricket and Merlin.

Maybe it’s something in the air. Maybe there’s not enough hay. But Martinelli knows better.

Her irritated equines are yet another consequence of the flood.

Bordering Coal Creek, the 10-acre urban farm in Boulder County didn’t stand a chance when flood waters ravaged the region in mid-September, turning vegetable fields into a muddy stew, and meadows into lakes.

Now, over a month later, the back pasture is still a wasteland of grimy debris. The farm’s nine horses haven’t been able to return to their usual quarters, and instead spend their days in the farm’s west paddock.

“It’s a little small for this many horses,” Martinelli observes. “Something has been going on with them for the last couple days where they won’t stop arguing.”

She calls out to a farmhand to set out another bale of hay. Maybe that will pacify them.

But horses aren’t the only thing Martinelli has to worry about.

At the time the flood hit, the Martinellis were only days away from their big fall harvest.

“Right around the fall equinox is when we get all our winter squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes, final peppers — one more week and we probably would have harvested most of the crop.”

Instead, Sara and her husband, Len, lost between $10,000 and $12,000 worth of produce.

And they weren’t alone. Farmers throughout the county were hit hard by the flood, which contaminated fields and inundated barns and greenhouses.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a total of 28,525 acres of crops and 39,000 acres of pasture and rangeland were flooded in the Front Range.

According to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, if the edible portion of a crop is exposed to flood waters it is considered adulterated and should not enter human food channels. Flood waters can contain a myriad of toxins, including pesticides, molds, E.coli, salmonella and heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic and mercury.

“Most of the farmers we’re talking to are still in the process of figuring out what they’re going to do next year,” says Michael Brownlee, co-founder of the Local Food Shift Group that helped to establish the Front Range Farm Relief Fund. “We think some of the farms that were significantly damaged may go out of business.”

In addition to contaminated fields, Brownlee explains the flood destroyed the county’s ditch system, which provides irrigation water for local farms. The price tag to repair the system is over $200 million.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos and exhaustion. The farmers have been working so hard to clean up and get the debris out of their fields, and trying to figure out how to pull money together to get through the winter. Emotionally and financially, many of them are in very difficult shape.”

Out in the fields, Martinelli kicks up a pitiful carrot with her mahogany cowboy boot. She gives it a look of defeat.

“Half of the field got swept away by the river,” she says. “When the water went down, and the sun came back out, we had the most beautiful tomatoes that we’ve ever had. And we had to just throw them all away.”

At her brother-in-law’s 63^rd Street Farm within Boulder’s city limits, a soil sample sent to the Colorado State University Extension tested positive for E.coli.

“We didn’t do any tests. We did the chicken test,” she says with a dry laugh.

At first, Sara was hopeful they could use some of the spoiled produce as food for the animals. One day, after the flood, she delivered a mound of squashes to her chicken house.

“The next day there was two dead chickens.”

Instead, the Martinellis, who operate several notable area restaurants like the Chautauqua Dining Hall and Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, sold off some pumpkins and butternut squashes as fall decorations. The rest had to be burned.

In the distance, Three Leaf farm manager Chase Morris steers his tractor toward a steaming compost heap.

“It was very upsetting for Chase because it was a whole year of work,” Martinelli says, watching the vivid green, John Deere tractor move through the pallid, washed-out rows of vegetables.

Sitting atop the growling piece of machinery, winter hat pulled low, Morris, who lives on the farm year-round with his wife, recalls the night of the flood.

“It was kind of exciting at first, but after that, once I saw all the damage, it was disheartening.”

A Michigan native new to farming, Morris initially hoped it would be possible to boil the vegetables to kill the bacteria. But after contacting CSU, he realized it was the heavy metals that had done the damage.

Now, his focus is on the coming winter.

“Right now I’m tilling the fields under, composting and covering crops. We have carrots in the ground still that, according to the CSU extension, might be OK after 120 days, since the heavy metals will oxidize and the bacteria won’t be a problem anymore.”

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the wait time before growers can replant depends upon temperature, weather and soil type. While no all-encompassing measure exists, most industry specialists recommend a 30- to 60-day period. However, in the case of Three Leaf Farm, the wait time is roughly double the usual standard.

Down by the creek, Martinelli strolls through a ghost town of abandoned bee houses where combs have run dry.

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Dusty stalks and sticks coagulate in the trees — a phenomenon that runs on for acres and troubles Martinelli.

“The biggest threat to us would normally be a small grass fire on the property. With this kind of debris way up into the trees, we have to get through here and get it all out.”

Already the Martinellis have enlisted the help of several volunteers to roll up flat drip tape and rip out collapsing fences.

“Normally, we would be planting some greens — some spinach, arugulas, garlics and onions. We would have gotten a final harvest of greens for this year.”

Instead the Martinellis plan on burning all winter.

Plodding her way through the muck, which still acts like quicksand in some areas, Martinelli clambers up a pile of rocks deposited by the swollen waters.

“The further away [from the barn], the more depressed I get. All these rocks, and rocks….”

“It’s just a lot of work,” she concludes, her voice tightening. “But we’ll get there. We’ll figure it out. We’re still lucky.”

Back at the stables, Martinelli stops by to visit her personal horse, Finn, a black-and-white gentle giant closing in on 14 years.

The hay has done the trick. Zephyr, Warlock and Blue huddle together peacefully, munching down on the yellow strands.

Her long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, tucked under a straw cowboy hat, Martinelli bends over to give Finn a kiss on the nose.

“I had friends of friends up in Lyons, and they had eight horses. They stuffed five horses in a four-horse trailer and had to set three of them free.”

She gives Finn a soft pat on the muzzle.

“The flood was very stressful. It was very overwhelming. We lost all of our crops, but we were able to come back the next day, put the horses in the barn and get back to work. So many people can’t say that.”

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From Estes Park to Lyons: U.S. 36 reopens

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:22:20 +0000

From Estes Park to Lyons: U.S. 36 reopens Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/11/2013 - 13:22 Robert Denton

The state opened U.S. 36 between Lyons and Estes Park, Colo., Monday, Nov. 4. Photographer Robert R. Denton took the drive between the two towns affected by heavy flooding in mid-September. The order of the photos reflect what Denton saw as he drove from west (Estes) to east (Lyons), including scenes of devastation and scenes of renewal.

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Special legislative committee will address September 2013 floods

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Special legislative committee will address September 2013 floods Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/04/2013 - 13:22 Annie Melton

Download the agenda for the Flood Disaster Study Committee

A Colorado legislative committee organized to address various infrastructure and policy concerns in the aftermath of the September floods will meet for the first time on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Denver.

The Flood Disaster Study Committee meeting will include the first in a series of open forums intended to give Coloradans the opportunity to speak with public officials about their personal experiences during the floods, which resulted in eight deaths and left thousands across the state homeless or without basic amenities.

“It’s a past, present and future look at what happened during the flood in terms of how the government and agencies responded,” Rep. Jonathan Singer (D-Boulder) said. “There are a lot of immediate needs, and we need to know how to prevent some of the things that went wrong from happening again.”

Public and private agencies estimate the flood’s economic toll will amount to more than $1 billion in property and infrastructure damage. Road closures on US-36, CO-144, CO-72, US-34 and CO-7 still affect daily commutes and access in and out of several areas along the Front Range; some towns are just now reopening to the public.

“The flood has really underlined some of the problems this state was already having,” Singer said. “We don’t have a particularly good track record on affordable housing, and things just got 10 times harder because now there are homes destroyed, and more people need that [affordability] because of their new financial situation.”

Singer said another issue, water contamination, will likely lead to a committee discussion about the industrial processes—particularly the storage of oil and gas—that kept entire towns without access to clean water for several weeks.

“I can’t imagine that we won’t be faced with some serious questions that will need a legislative response,” Singer said.

Singer and Senator Matt Jones represent Boulder County, the hardest-hit area. According to Jones, the county is suffering a “cash-flow problem” in its attempts to repair infrastructure. State laws prevent the county from distributing its general funds to its road and bridge funds, resulting in a long-term inability to cover the damage.

“They can’t spread these costs out over time,” Jones said. “That’s something we might be able to change. They could get reimbursed by FEMA—that would require state legislation.”

Leslie Irwin, a policy analyst for the Boulder County Commissioners' Office, said the road and bridge fund issue is a "significant concern" and that her office, along with Colorado Counties Inc., want to change the law to allow general fund money to be used for road and bridge projects in declared emergencies.

"The declared emergencies exception to the Road and Bridge prohibition would allow existing General Fund moneys to be used for Road and Bridge projects as soon as a bill is signed by the Governor, which would help address some of the considerable cash flow concerns," Irwin wrote in an email.

"There also is a need to work collaboratively with municipalities and the Colorado Municipal League to assure them that we are not seeking to take existing 'municipal' share of Road and Bridge money (in the normal course of budget actions, when we transfer money to the Road and Bridge Fund, municipalities get a .40 share of that in Boulder County)."

Irwin said Gini Pingenot from CCI will present that proposal to the committee Tuesday.

The committee is comprised of six state senators and six representatives, who break down evenly across party lines: six Democrats and six Republicans. Eleven of the 12 committee members are from the Front Range, including three each from Boulder County, Larimer County and Weld County. (Complete list at end of story.)

Though the first meeting will be held in Denver, the committee will be mobile, visiting communities across the state.

“Boulder County will be incredibly well-represented, and we have the State House Minority Leader from Larimer County and a strong Weld County contingent,” Singer said. “This is not only covering different, geographically diverse areas—we’re a politically diverse committee as well.”

Both Singer and Jones are hopeful in the committee’s ability to satisfy the needs of a still-reeling state with a long road back to normalcy.

“With this much destruction and heartache, it demands that the state recovery program work, and that’s what the committee’s about,” Jones said. “We have the ability to change laws.”

The committee members will facilitate discussion between the various state departments and can propose new legislation or changes to existing legislation. Tuesday’s meeting will include representatives from the departments of Transportation, Public Safety, Local Affairs, Natural Resources, Agriculture, Public Health and Environment, and Regulatory Agencies. Topics that are likely to be addressed include the National Flood Insurance Program, which is issued by FEMA, planning and zoning laws, urban drainage, flood control and water conservation.

“Colorado’s political divisions aren’t the same as D.C.’s,” Singer said. “We actually passed a budget this year. We can work together and when we disagree, we can do so respectably.”

“It gives you perspective on life and on politics when you see that the flood didn’t turn away when it was a Democrat’s home or a Republican’s home. The flood went where it decided to go. Our responsibility is to pay credence to that, bear witness to that. The least we can do is get along.”

The flood committee’s first meeting begins at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5 in Senate Committee Room 356 of the State Capitol. Public testimony begins at 3:30 p.m.

Colorado General Assembly Flood Disaster Study Committee

State senators

Matt Jones (D-Louisville)
John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins)
Kent Lambert (R-Colorado Springs)
Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud)
Jeanne Nicholson (D-Golden)
Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley)

State representatives

Brian DelGrosso (R-Loveland)
Mike Foote (D-Lafayette)
Stephen Humphrey (R-Weld County)
Jonathan Singer (D-Boulder)
Jerry Sonnenberg (R-Sterling)
Dave Young (D-Greeley)

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National and local media focus their lenses on Lyons' re-population

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 20:22:20 +0000

National and local media focus their lenses on Lyons' re-population Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/28/2013 - 14:22 CU News Corps

Many Lyons residents moved back into their homes this weekend, and along with the Xcel workers who hooked up their utilities, local and national media were there to greet them.

The Longmont Times-Call wrote that "hundreds" of families in the town of about 2,000 started to move back into their homes on Saturday morning, and that today marks the first day that visitors will be allowed into town. The highlight for many was being able to take a shower.

The Denver Post reported that Xcel hoped to return full gas service to 700 of the 1,000 meters in town.

Not all was good news, though, as 7News reported that residents who had rented temporary housing may be stuck in leases. Some residents signed temporary leases through November and will have to honor those leases and pay rent even though they're moving back into their houses this week.

The Los Angeles Times dropped into Lyons and Estes Park last week to report on the general problems encountered in both towns, particularly the lack of tourism through the fall and how it has affected each town's economy. And although the story wasn't published until Sunday, 24 hours after residents started moving back in, the Times had no mention of that move forward.

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RMNP re-opens, rejuvenates tourism in Estes Park

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:22:20 +0000

RMNP re-opens, rejuvenates tourism in Estes Park Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 10/20/2013 - 14:22 Jessica Caballero

The U.S. government is back in business, and so are many Estes Park area entrepreneurs, especially since Oct. 12, the date Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper diverted state money to open some basic functions of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Estes Park business owners are hopeful the upward trend continues through the fall and into the winter tourist season now that Congress has ended its stalemate and started the flow of federal money back into RMNP.

Businesses started seeing results last week, after Hickenlooper's decision. The direct cause of that increase, however, is still a tough call.

“There is quite a bit more people now than there even were a couple weeks ago,” said Bryan Gillam of The Rock Inn restaurant, “but it’s hard to be able to attribute that to whether Rocky Mountain National Park reopened, or it’s because people are feeling more comfortable coming up here, now that there’s a couple of options to get up here and everything is open, rather than in the first two weeks after the floods.”

With both major U.S. highways coming into Estes Park closed, tourism and small, local businesses have taken the hardest hit from the floods in September.

“We had started getting some calls, but I think a lot of people diverted their attention elsewhere -- and their vacation plans elsewhere -- during that time,” said Jim Addison of Valhalla Resort near the national park. “Then we started to get calls whenever the town of Estes Park opened again, but when they closed the park [during the government shut down], all the calls stopped again.”

Tyler Lemirande of Estes Park Brewery on Prospect Village said things could have been worse, even though he said the brewery has lost about $350,000 in the past month, or about 90 percent of what it makes in a month.

“Thankfully [the flood] happened when it did,” Lemirande said. “If it had happened in the beginning of the summer, there would have been more people here. We were winding down the season in September anyway. Winter came two months early.”

Unfortunately, Estes Park -- including Lemirande’s home on the other side of town from the brewery - is still a no-flush zone, but he chooses to see the positive side, even as he's fighting for business.

“Community, local Front Range people, have come together to clean up and get some businesses back up and running," Lemirande said. "I appreciate everyone coming up from Denver to support our local businesses. Rocky Mountain National Park is a big employer and has helped bring tourism up."

Visitors can still enjoy the park along Bear Lake Road, Twin Sisters Trailhead, and Upper Beaver Meadows Road.

According to the National Park Service, a few areas of the park still remain closed due to flood damage. Endovalley Road is open only from Horseshoe Park to the East Alluvial Fan Parking Area. Old Fall River Road is closed to pets and bicycles. Both Wild Basin Road, as well as Fern Lake Road, are closed at their winter parking areas.

Through Oct. 31, areas of Horseshoe Park, Moraine Park, Harbison Meadow and Holzwarth Meadow are also closed. For more information, visit the Rocky Mountain National Park website through the National Park Service.

To get more up to date information about visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, you can call (970) 586-1206, or (970) 586-1222 for 24 hour updates on road conditions.

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CDOT, National Guard working to re-open U.S. 36 from Lyons to Estes

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:22:20 +0000

CDOT, National Guard working to re-open U.S. 36 from Lyons to Estes Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/17/2013 - 14:22 Annie Melton

Though scheduled for a reopening on Dec. 1, the 15-mile stretch of U.S. Route 36 from Lyons to Estes Park could be ready even earlier if a Colorado Department of Transportation and National Guard collaboration is successful.

CDOT spokeswoman Ashley Mohr said that section of the highway, used by an average of 8,000 vehicles daily, will ideally open days before the December deadline.

“If the weather cooperates, we’ll be ahead of schedule,” Mohr said. “We’re in the process of stabilizing the roadway, filling in areas that were washed out.”

The road closed on Sept. 26, with 18 different sites needing repairs. Four have been completed so far. Like other areas along 36 with severe flood damage, the Lyons to Estes route is currently permit-only, with a checkpoint at the intersection of 36 and Highway 66.

This specific project is one of a kind in the collaboration between CDOT and members of the National Guard from Colorado, Utah and Kansas. CDOT usually works with private contractors.

“It was really just happenstance,” Mohr said. “The Guard stepped in to help us enforce the road closures after the flooding. They became familiar with the area and said, Hey, we’re already up here and have the equipment. They jumped at the opportunity for the partnership.”

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Colorado communities unite to help Boulder County resident save home

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Colorado communities unite to help Boulder County resident save home Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/14/2013 - 14:22 Emilie Bierschenk

Volunteers stoke and tend the bonfire near Jeremy Barnes' house between Boulder and Lyons, Colo., Oct. 12, 2013. Barnes' house was nearly destroyed in the September flood that devastated the town. Photo by Emilie Bierschenk.

Jeremy Barnes moves from bonfire to bonfire, as nearly 100 volunteers pick up and burn the debris that covers his flood-damaged property.

Since last month’s floods devastated Barnes’ home near the intersection of Middle Fork Road and U.S. Route 36 in Boulder County, hundreds of people have come to help. On Saturday, Lutheran and Latter Day Saints church groups worked side-by-side with University of Colorado Engineers Without Borders students and other community members.

“It’s wild,” Barnes said. “It’s amazing. These people - what they’re doing just today would take me more than three months of labor. They come out, they do this for a day or two days and they’re passionate about it, they’re having fun, they’re thorough. We’ve had at least 400 people put a day's work into this.”

Jeremy Barnes looks on as volunteers from across the Front Range help him rebuild the house that was nearly destroyed in September's flood. Photo by Emilie Bierschenk.

When Left Hand Creek flooded on Sept. 11, Barnes and his family made it only as far as their white Volkswagen before realizing they were stuck.

“We had to be rescued with our cat,” Barnes said. “He was in a laundry basket, and he didn’t like that at all. The fire department walked us out, and the deepest water I stepped into on the walk out was about six feet deep, but it got deeper after we left.”

Students from CU’s Engineers Without Borders group, an organization normally devoted to international relief work, said they jumped at the opportunity to lend a hand close to home.

“It’s not that we feel obligated to come, we just genuinely want to help,” said Madori Patterson, an Engineers Without Borders freshman. “The core of the program is all about helping people and especially when it’s right in our own backyard.”

University of Colorado freshman Madori Patterson helped stoke the bonfire with remnants of Jeremy Barnes' heavily damaged home. Photo by Emilie Bierschenk.

Naomi Doerr came with nine other members of St. Philip Lutheran Church in Littleton to offer her assistance.

“Sometimes Lutherans are not quick to get out there, but they’ll stay for the long haul,” Doerr said. “Bad things happen in our lives, but it’s a matter of what we do with it and how we choose to respond. We all have a need for belonging to something larger than ourselves.”

When Nathan Segovia heard about the flooding, he said he left New Orleans and made his way to Boulder as fast as he could to help with disaster relief, and lucked into meeting Barnes. He now lives in the empty skeleton of a house that remains, and Barnes has hired him to oversee volunteers and help with manual labor.

“I came to Boulder on Sept. 20 and worked in a few places around the city,” Segovia said. “I ended up here about a week later and I’ve been here since. I’ve been [Barnes’] right-hand, doing a lot of the heavy labor and organizing. There’s so much to do. If I had the ability to do all this without getting paid I would.”

Nathan Segovia left New Orleans to help Coloradans recover from September's floods. Photo by Emilie Bierschenk.

Segovia plans to work with Barnes through the winter and as long as he’s needed.

“I feel like I was brought here for a reason, and it’s incredible to meet all these people,” Segovia said. “I got a hotel room last night and had a real shower for the first time in a week or two. It’s just been crazy with so many people. There’s been three days in a row with 100 or more people out here.”

Barnes, who was self-employed doing crisis mitigation for companies before the flood, has had to devote all his time since the devastation to overseeing repairs on his home and property.

“I haven’t been able to work,” Barnes said. “This is my job. I have to save my house.”

The immediate goal, Barnes said, is to eliminate as much debris as possible and minimize fire hazard. He hopes to secure the house and seal the outside walls so he and his family can move back before winter.

This story was also published by the Boulder Daily Camera.

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