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From the standpoint of the local paper, the main impression was that to cover the event meant to go full speed until it is over. The paper had to place a limit on the number of hours staffers could work each day, There are more stories than any news organization could every hope to cover, no matter how big the staff. Many reporters were affected personally by the flood and also had to cover the story. Greiling quoted from the paper: "We kept ourselves going with caffeine and sugar and that adrenal buzz that each journalist gets when there's ajob to do that requires grace under pressure, but even with the excitement the newsroom was unusually quiet. Newsrooms are typically very sarcastic places, just a notch above a pool hall." "To an outsider they must seem vulgar and disrespectful. Weare often faced with death and destruction daily and making jokes about it is how we cope, but there were no jokes about this tragedy, Our reporters and photographers were sent into a mess of twisted metal and tears, and it showed on their faces when they returned. No matter how many years of jourmaism you have under your bell, it never gets any easier to look into swollen, tearful eyes and ask a stranger to bare his or her sole to you. This storm touched us all; it touched this community and will be with us forever." Aftermath of the Flood: Grief: A Normal Reaction As communities depend on those with many technical skills to help re-build following a natural disaster, it is crucial to keep in mind the many emotional issues that are also tied to such an event, Community members collectively experience a great number oflosses, including such things as: loss of life, physical spaces, belongings, resources, dreams, etc.. If the Ft. Collins community, for example, is truly to recover from the July 28th disaster, we have to look well beyond the more obvious physical issues; the many multifaceted losses following the flood triggered significant grief reactions. Grieving is a common and healthy reaction and must be "normalized" so that those who do grief are not left to feel that something is "wrong" with them, that there is something "strange" about their feelings, It is crucial that the community give support- and give it for the long term. If such assistance and understanding is not provided, there is a risk of disenfranchising those individuals who have already suffered a great deal. Grief is much longer lasting than many persons understand - regardless of the type of loss. We know that grief goes through phases,.n!lt simply the five stages that many people read about in the popular literature. Rather, we need to understand that there is an acute phase of grief that lasts for days or even weeks immediately after a loss, This is the time when feelings are likely to be most intense and most overwhelming. Following the acute phases is a much longer period of time that has no easily definable end of date or stage and that is what we would call the chronic phase of grief, It is evident that the flood has had a significant impact already; further, there will be ongoing reminders that will bring back thoughts and trigger emotions that the flood survivors believed were already over and dealt with. For example, children in this town 15