Study Away experience altered by first-hand witness to devastation
Marissa Strong
Greeley, Colorado
Less than five miles—that’s how close the floods got to where I’m living in Greeley.
As close as I physically am, it feels like I am so much farther away because I was not affected at all.
In fact, we got very little rain and it had been sunny almost the entire time while the rest of the state was severely flooding.
The only effect that I felt was the loss of cell phone service for just about two days.
On Monday, school was cancelled due to the flooding in nearby areas, but it was sunny and 80 degrees.
I went out to lunch and went shopping with a friend on a day that so many thousands of people were starting to return to their homes or what was left of their homes.
It felt strange that my friends and family were so concerned for my safety because I felt so far away from all of the chaos.
Ed Andrieski / AP Photo: A section of highway is pictured near Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, September 23, during a helicopter tour of the area with Vice President Joe Biden after the flooding.
But the reality of the situation kicked in when I went into the grocery store.
Just walking through the aisles, nearly every conversation I heard was focused on the flooding.
The shelves were emptied of bottled water because many towns were on a boil order from contaminated tap water.
I overheard one lady on the phone, in tears.
She said that the last thing she remembers is watching her house being swept away by the floods.
After contacting her insurance company, they told her they were not going to cover any of the damage that had occurred.
She was in shock, confused, lost, and hopeless.
Her entire life was swept away and now the insurance company, the one group that should be helping her to rebuild what she had, refused to.
This is the situation for thousands of people right now with nowhere to go and no idea how to restart.
Watching the news on television is one thing, but being in the midst of the chaos and watching it unfold in front of you is something that words, pictures and videos cannot describe.
I’m only five miles away but it’s so difficult for me to even know the full situation of what’s going on.
There are still families that cannot access their homes, and the full severity of the damage is unknown.
There are still people unaccounted for, there are still damages that are being assessed, and some towns that are still inaccessible.
But it’s sunny and warm in Greeley, and it’s weird being surrounded by devastation with no damage here.
Though Greeley wasn’t one of the cities that flooded, we certainly felt the impact of these floods.
Nearly all of the flooding occurred in towns an hour or less from Greeley, which for the state of Colorado is pretty close.
We are part of this whole community and because we are the lucky ones, we are more than obligated to helping out the neighbor towns, those affected worse.
The support efforts for the flood relief are a beautiful sight considering the amount of wreckage that is overwhelming Northern Colorado right now.
Advertising for food drives, clothing drives, benefit concerts, and flood relief donations are everywhere and it’s just the beginning.
As the flood waters recede and the shock of the situation dies down, the support continues to grow.
I hope and pray that Colorado does not get hit with another large disaster.
Between last year’s fires and this year’s flooding, Colorado has seen enough damage for the next 100 years.
Marrisa Strong is in Greeley, Colorado, for the fall semester of her senior year.