Flood Damage

This past year brought what was later determined to be a "1000 year flood" event to the front range of Colorado.  Although our personal house made it through without any problems in Broomfield, Tara's dad's house was located at the base of a mountain canyon and just a few feet from the Big Thompson river.  This river has had a history of infamous flood events, though their house had previously withstood them all.  Unfortunately, this one was different.  The sheer magnitude of the flood is hard to imagine with water remaining almost 15 feet above it's normal level for nearly 10 days straight.  This put Terry and Sandra's house almost entirely under water.  The result was a devastating total loss.  We finally were able to make it up in person to witness the damage and it is hard to describe.  Here is Tara standing next to what is left of the center section of the house near where the kitchen used to be.

This is a picture from farther out where you can see the rough of what's left of their house.  Tons and tons of dirt, rocks, and rubble was carried down by the flood and literally raise the ground level by nearly 6' to 8' above where it used to be once it was deposited.  This is why the house appears to be almost hidden under ground.

The garage remained mostly intact, though buried, and through some heavy equipment excavation work, Terry's classic car "Jenny" was able to be recovered.

Here is a picture of Terry and Tara together.  It was a pretty sobering trip, but good to be there to support them going through such a hard time with losing everything.  We are truly sorry for their loss.