RESIDENT GETS ‘FRONT ROW SEAT’
TO CANYON REBUILDING EFFORTS
W
hen the 2013 flood waters
subsided, Big Thompson
Canyon resident Mary Myers found
that her front door was suddenly
about 20 feet from a 20-foot steep
cliff to the river bottom. She and her
husband, Michael, had to be airlifted
from their home because the only
access out had been severed.
“I was pretty shell-shocked when I
went back,” Myers recalled. “When I
came back, the river was right below
my yard, and 100-year-old trees that
used to be all along the river bank
were gone.”
Myers and her husband had to hike
in and out of her property for eight
months before crews finished building
up the hillside by her home by moving
dirt where it deposited and putting it
back to where it was taken way.
“I had to carry in groceries and haul
out trash with wheelbarrows behind
all the cabins and through the gullies
on the mountainside to come and
go for our weekly chores and trips to
town,” she said. “It was pretty rough.”
Having inherited her family home
after her father passed in 2012, Myers
had started living in the home full-
time just in time to witness the flood.
As a child, she had witnessed the 1976
flood and its aftermath. “This wasn’t
my first rodeo. It was my second,” she
said, adding, “I get my helicopter rides
the hard way.”
“During the rebuilding, each and
every step that came our way was a
relief, because we were so devastated,
and the damage was so intense
here,” she said. “We are below the
confluence of two rivers, and so
we really kind of got the double
whammy.”
Myers admitted she was nervous
about the rebuilding effort, but
praised CDOT, Jacobs, Ayres, and the
entire project team for their efforts
to listen to her and other property
owners’ concerns.
“I felt like when I shared my
concerns with Ayres, Ayres was
very responsive to my thoughts and
contributions. I felt respected and
Visit http://bit.ly/
AyresImpact or scan
this QR code to hear
more of Mary Myers’
account.
heard, and for that I’m very grateful,”
she said.
Myers said she “absolutely” feels
safer now that the permanent repairs
are in place.
“I’ve had a front row seat to the
rebuilding and restoration process,
from emergency repairs to design
and the execution of the permanent
repairs that have enhanced the
resilience of the Big Thompson
Canyon,” she said. “When it comes
to the next big flood, I have a much
higher confidence level of how our
canyon will convey those waters.”
– Tawny Quast
AyresAssociates.com
│17