Torrential rainfall in Colorado has caused massive flooding in several counties throughout the state, including areas in which NPCA members perform their day-to-day operations.
The flood damage has been devastating, resulting in property losses estimated at $2 billion statewide. Nevertheless, NPCA members – like the residents of Colorado – are a resilient group, and are working hard to quickly recover from the disaster.
We contacted several of our Colorado members to determine how they were affected by the flooding and what measures they are taking to get back on their feet.
Colorado Precast Concrete Inc. – Loveland
According to Scott Hayward, vice president and general manager, the floodwaters raced right through the center of Colorado Precast’s production facility. The water was approximately four feet deep and washed over nearly all of the company’s 50 acres of land.
Hayward opened the door on the east side of the office building to allow the floodwaters entering from the west side to pass through, limiting the buildup of silt to just one inch deep. Employees also secured important computer files on thumb drives, taking them home and loading them on their own computers to get the company back up and running.
Though no employees at Colorado Precast were hurt as a result of the flooding, many are experiencing difficulty simply getting to the plant. Hayward noted that many miles of roadway in Colorado are severely damaged.
“I had to drive about 100 miles out of the way to go the five miles needed to get to the plant,” Hayward said. “Seventeen miles of highway from Loveland to Estes Park are washed out.”
While Colorado Precast is not quite back to 100%, it is still producing precast, Hayward said. One of the key early demands is for traffic barriers that will be needed during the massive job of repairing many miles of roads and an estimated 50 bridges damaged by the floods.
Front Range Precast Concrete – Boulder
Front Range Precast Concrete is located at ground zero of the Colorado floods, with its headquarters in Boulder. But the company is located on higher ground, said Jay Dorwart, operations manager, and other than some muddy grounds, it was not affected by the flood. The plant closed down for two days during the worst of the flooding, however, because the roads were closed leading into Boulder. Because Boulder County is the company’s biggest customer, short-term business has been affected, Dowart said, “but we’ll probably come back strong.” The plant was up and running again on Monday, Sept. 16, and the biggest problem was just getting employees from their homes to the plant. Most of the plant’s employees live in Denver and were not affected by flooding but travel is precarious with so much of the basic infrastructure destroyed.
Aguilars Concrete Products – Evans
One of the hardest hit areas of the flooding was Evans, Colo., home to Aguilars Concrete Products. The company was affected by the floodwaters and is currently working to return to normal operations.
To view more photos of the flood damage in Colorado, click here.
Note: Thank you to Colorado Precast for providing the photos in this post.
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