August 2, 2018
75 CENTS
SPECIAL COVERAGE inside this issue! ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
‘My whole life is underwater’
Difficult recovery lies ahead for flood victims BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
I
n a matter of minutes, several neighbors in south Englewood found their floors and basements underwater in a storm that swallowed up belongings, memories and one woman’s life. Hours later, they faced the first day of their lives marked by the flood — together, emotionally and filled with uncertainty for the future. “My whole life is underwater,” said Jolee Dreher, 40, watching workers pump water out of her basement under a noonday sun on July 25 that told little of the chaos hours earlier. Neighbors described the scene from the evening before on the 4600 block of South Acoma Street as being like a lake, with knee-high water covering the road, lawns and porches, rushing between homes with river-like force. Dreher, who was at work at the time, said her youngest son, daughter, older son and his girlfriend and baby all barely got out in time when the flood struck. “It went from ground to chest in minutes, it was pushing doors closed” and there was no time to save anything, said Dreher, still in her work clothes from the night before. About five feet of water still stood in her basement at 4660 S. Acoma St. — even after draining on its own through the night, she said, as she
Angelo Maldonado, 41, describes the July 24 torrent of water that flooded the street in front of his home at 4661 S. Acoma St., between Tufts and Union avenues, and the basement unit of the home where he has lived for three years. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” he said. Maldonado and his brother, Isaac, live in the first-floor unit. Their unit had little water — they stuffed towels at the bottom of the door jamb to keep water from seeping in. But the basement unit, where water reached the ceiling, was severely damaged, they said. JERRY HEALEY Water nearly reached the ceiling of Doug Cunningham’s basement unit at 4661 S. Acoma St. He had lived there for 15 years with his son, Stephen, 19. The July 24 flood destroyed much of his son’s guitar collection and the recording studio Cunningham had built for him. Three of his four cockatiels — two of them breeders and a 5-month-old baby cockatiel — also were lost. ELLIS ARNOLD
walked around the lawn with news reporters and her children milling about her. Her landlord took care of the water removal, she said, and Red Cross personnel came to offer assistance. “All of us that live in the area know it’s a flood area,” Dreher said, but “this is extreme, very unusual. I don’t think this is something any of us could have prepared for.” SEE FLOOD, P9
FOR MORE ON THE FLOOD AFTERMATH: PERIODICAL
Who is covered by flood insurance P9 INSIDE
How to help P9
What will the city do? P10
VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 26 | SPORTS: PAGE 30
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 98 | ISSUE 24