Interview with Dennis Coombs

 
YS: What notable steps have been taken to help those who lost everything?

DC: This office prioritized pushing the Governor’s office to issue “condemn and destroy” letters to the residents of the trailer park. For one thing, this proves that the city is responsible for destroying the property damaged in the flood. This also ensures that the people who lived in the trailer park would see the maximum FEMA refund for replacing their homes and rebuilding the park.

In effect, this takes the pressure off people who lost their trailer homes to try and fix irreparably damaged trailers or replace them. This was a big step forward for us in helping. 
 

YS: How much progress would you say has been made, and how much is left to do until relative normalcy can be restored?

DC: Well, we are ahead of schedule on rebuilding County Road 80, and have cleared the reservoir of debris and restored the pipeline from the reservoir back to town. This is great progress, especially because we now have re-established three water sources back to the town.

Conversely, the biggest challenge to progressing as I noted above is the river corridor and the river corridor trail.  It took 20 years to build this and one day to destroy it.  It will take years not only to rebuild what was lost, but to improve it in a way that it will be able to withstand another 100 years flood should this occur again in the future. 
 

YS: What was the role of the national government during and after the disaster?

DC: I have nothing but good things to say about this. FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers reacted swiftly during the crisis and were extremely accommodating to our needs, specifically with regards to cutting County Road 80 to channel flood water and re-route the river. Normally a “404 Permit” is required to re-route a river, which can take days to apply for and receive.

It took us was a 40-minute phone call to make FEMA and the Army Corps aware of the severity of the situation, they were absolutely willing and able to circumvent the usual permit requirement, backfill the paperwork and give us permission to go ahead and cut the road.
 

YS: Your goal, now, is not to put a Band-Aid on existing damage, but to build something better and stronger?

DC: Exactly. Not only are we building a stronger river corridor, we are also going to build better bridges and increase the channel capacity of the corridor. This will help not only in the event of another flood, but will make the area more attractive to businesses and business owners and we should see the river corridor become more robust in the future. 

YS: Would you say then that there is a silver lining to all of this? 

DC: Watching how the community came together, working side by side sometimes up to 16 hours a day, both in the immediate aftermath and to this day is one example. Not only are we making progress rebuilding the town, but also relationships are being built. Because of the circumstances—because of being put to the test—the relationships created are very authentic.

YS: Do you have any words of advice to the residents of Longmont concerning rebuilding?

DC: Just to be patient.I realize it is difficult to have things take so long and for the town to have the financial burden of rebuilding. I know the Greenway paths are particularly important to people, but we can’t fix them overnight.

When everything is finished in two or three years it will be vastly improved from what it was so that we are better protected and prepared and will hopefully never be in this situation again.