Fort Lyon Faces Yet Another Test; Storm Damages: Pueblo Chieftain

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Fort Lyc A? faces ;yet another test: storm damages The Pueblo Chieftain Online Select file then print to print this article. Publish Date Tuesday June 12, 2001 Fort Lyon faces yet another test: storm damages By DENNIS DARROW The Pueblo Chieftain http://www.chieftain.com/print.php3?story=2 �=i :. In the midst of weathering the closing of its historic veterans hospital, Fort Lyon now must cope with its most damaging rain and hail storm in memory. No one was injured last Thursday night when a severe thunderstorm slammed the Fort Lyon veterans administration hospital and the tiny residential neighborhood adjacent to the complex. However, as many as 275 people - many of them retired hospital workers who live in the nearby housing district - remained without drinking water Monday. Also, their aged homes remained caked with mud and debris from local flooding. Everyone from Boys Scouts to residents of nearby Las Animas traveled to the area to help in the cleanup At the scenic V.A. complex itself, the buildings fared better but heavy winds toppled trees while hail stones as big as baseballs shattered the complex's ornate Spanish tile roofs. "They're just in billions of little pieces," hospital spokesman LaVonne Garrison said of the roofs, a red clay tile that gave the hospital complex a distinct appearance. The nearly hour -long hail storm also broke out many of the east - facing windows of the spacious complex. Elsewhere, the relentless ice assault pounded cars and trucks. Workers and the 38 nursing home residents still at the hospital pending the opening of a new veterans nursing home in Pueblo rode out the storm in basement rooms, hospital administrators say. The storm proved the latest dip in a seesaw year for Fort Lyon. The rural veterans hospital will close for good this fall as the federal government seeks to save money by shifting veterans health services to larger towns and cities. However, a potential economic disaster for the area was averted when the state decided to transform the grounds into a prison for the elderly and mentally ill. The prison will open next summer. "We've had a lot of ups and downs this year, haven't we ?" said Garrison, a 22 -year veteran of the hospital. "But you know, we're pretty tough people out here. We bounce back pretty good." A full damage estimate at the hospital isn't expected until today at the earliest, regional VA administrator Stuart Collyer said. The price tag for repairs could run into the millions of dollars, he said. "It's a beautiful campus. And it's going to be beautiful again. But it's going to take some repairs," Collyer 1 of 3 6/12/01 10:08 AM