2013 Flood

My father, stepmother, and their poodle live across Arapahoe from the Community Foothills Hospital and Boulder Creek.

The sump pump stopped working in their basement. Black water came out of it and out of the toilet. There was about a foot of water and a bad odor in the basement.

They moved their cars to higher ground. There were power outages and the hospital used its generators.

The media set up camp at Eisenhower Elementary School. On the night of Sep. 12, reporters were broadcasting from the intersection of Arapahoe and Foothills, which was flooded.

9News (KUSA-TV) had aerial views of Boulder Creek, the hospital, and my father's neighborhood. Mike Nelson from 7News (KMGH-TV) said a trillion gallons of water had fallen in the Boulder area. That's a year's worth in just a few days. Governor Hickenlooper and President Obama declared northern Colorado a disaster area.

It took me two hours to get to Boulder because of detours and traffic. St Vrain was still running very high. Stations at the Longmont exit had no gas and no plumbing. Frontage roads, ramps, and parking lots had standing water. Farms were flooding.

I took pictures of my dad's basement for insurance while water was pumped and vacuumed. The poodle didn't like strangers in the house. The water didn't affect the large television. KT's was open so we had barbecue for dinner. Two large dehumidifiers were set up. We had trouble getting the water heater working.

Boulder braced for more rain and flood warnings. In the afternoon, my dad and stepmother saw Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, because they already had tickets. When they returned, there was about an inch of new water in the basement.

My dad and I put books, BDs, and DVDs in uhaul boxes. Some trash was taken out of the basement and left in the driveway.

Louie was getting in the way of cleanup, so we took him to Sue's house to play with other poodles. I rinsed plastic boxes in the back yard. Some furniture and exercise equipment was left near the driveway. My uncle, David Mallory, came by to give us information about the flood plain.

I took my dad to Kaiser Permanente because he thought the basement gave him sepsis. It turned out to be gastroenteritis. The xfinity guy came and restored phone and internet. Doors and drywall were removed from the basement. My dad brought Louie back from Sue's house.

We moved more boxes upstairs. The maids came. Pasta Jay's had cheap meals for their 25th anniversary. Carpeting was removed from the stairs. I went back to Fort Collins.

My stepmother visited Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. She brought me money from each place. Basement renovations began. By February 22, the stairway had been reinforced and insulation, drywall, and primer had gone up. By April 18, shelves had gone up in the closet and cabinets had been installed in the restroom. A new sink and counter had gone in by June 7.