When floating mobile homes, washed out roadways and destroyed houses were tallied Monday, Weld County commissioners in Colorado estimated at least $230 million in damages to properties and infrastructure countywide.
Gilroyan Tom Busk, 64, was one of nine Bay Area or Silicon Valley Red Cross volunteers and staff members who packed his bags and headed to Colorado to provide shelter and food assistance to victims of the Colorado floods.
Busk, who volunteered with the Red Cross in New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy, arrived in Colorado Saturday and does not know how long he will stay there.
“It kind of depends how things roll out,” he said, over the phone. “I’m not gonna leave until I’m satisfied.”
Busk became a Red Cross volunteer 18 years ago, after watching coverage of the Oklahoma City Bombing on television.
“I felt like I couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore,” he said.
After two years of working as a volunteer, he quit his job in the entertainment industry to work full time at the Red Cross.
Now, he is employed as the Director of Community Preparedness, Response & Partnerships for the Silicon Valley chapter of the Red Cross. His chapter has about 600 volunteers who have been trained to respond to disasters across the nation.
“We don’t get government funding,” Busk said. “Everything we do is funded by donations. The best way to support is to provide that assistance.”
While the damages in Weld County alone are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the flood damage extends well beyond the county line.
“The biggest challenge we see now is not knowing where all the people are. We’ve got damage in probably 13 or 14 counties,” said Busk. “There is a lot of Colorado that is pretty rural.”
At least 5,000 homes in Colorado have been designated “destroyed” or “majorly damaged,” which means these residences cannot be lived in until a substantial amount of work is done, explained Busk. According to some estimates, the total number of destroyed or majorly damaged homes may be closer to 20,000, which would mean about 60,000 people are basically homeless, Busk said.
Government officials and volunteers are still trying to assess the scope of the disaster, using satellite imaging and flyovers to guess at the impacts to rural areas they haven’t been able to access.
Flood victims are now faced with an array of obstacles. Some have lost their homes and don’t have flood insurance. Others have intact, livable houses but became stranded in the mountains after flood waters destroyed roadways to local cities. Until they are rescued, these residents are living off what they have in their houses, and may be in need of critical supplies such as medicine.
“They are very rural, strong mountain folks,” said Busk. “They’ll tough it out for awhile but after awhile they have to get back to civilization.”
Most victims of the floods need food, water and in some cases shelter. That is where Busk and other Red Cross volunteers step in. Busk and other volunteers are manning shelters and driving cars through affected areas to deliver food, tarps and water to victims.
The Red Cross, together with partner organizations, has set up 26 shelters that serve an estimated 1,200 people, said Busk. More than 250 trained Red Cross disaster workers have been deployed to Colorado, along with more than 20 emergency response vehicles and six trucks of relief supplies, according to a press release from Jennifer Sturm, the Regional Communications editor for the American Red Cross.
For Busk, the true heroes are the Red Cross volunteers who keep working despite damage to their own homes.
“I think the most moving thing is the volunteers here who have damaged homes who are still coming to work, working in shelters, providing people with food,” said Busk. “That’s heroic.”
In addition to providing shelter and food, the Red Cross works to connect victims with family members. Just five days ago, 200 to 300 people registered themselves on the Red Cross’ “Safe and Well” section of their website. The number swelled to about 1,500 names on Tuesday, said Busk.
“Our biggest challenge will be getting to the locations we need to be,” said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who got a bird’s-eye view of damage in the central part of the county on Monday. “You can be just a few yards away and everything’s fine, and just a few yards another way and everything’s ruined.”
To make a donation or learn more about volunteering, visit redcross.org/siliconvalley or call 1-877-727-6771.
