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<br />rescue occurred somewhere around 2: 1 0 the next morning. Then, on the next day, July
<br />29, there were still 172 people missing, and all of them had to be accounted for. Levy
<br />reported that the flood had tremendous impacts on CSU and the greater community, but
<br />not one firefighter or police officer was injured, He said that while event taxed our
<br />system, and was tragic, some good came in its wake,
<br />
<br />Figure 10
<br />
<br />City Manager's Perspective. According to City Manager John Fischbach (1997), the
<br />City's incident command system worked extraordinarily well; but as with other floods,
<br />the full impact of the event was not immediately apparent. When the City Manager was
<br />called about 10:00 p.m., he told his deputy to take care of the event because it did not
<br />appear to be a big problem. The deputy called about an hour later, and told the City
<br />Manager "We have a major flood down in the trailer park, we have a train that's
<br />overturned, we have fires, and buildings are burning." The City Manager then went
<br />outside, and it wasn't even raining, but as he drove toward town, he ran into flooded
<br />streets and could not get through. When he arrived at the Police Department's Command
<br />Center, everything was in turmoil.
<br />
<br />Then, the City Manager went to the trailer park, and he reported that "it was horrible,
<br />absolutely horrendous." All of the trailers in the trailer park were lost. During the
<br />recovery process, the City declared it a "nuisance," and eventually cleared out the entire
<br />park. It was a tragic experience for the residents. The City worked with the residents as
<br />much as possible to recover whatever they could, but some of them never found their
<br />belongings. The City's cost to clear the park was about $221,000, Now, the area looks
<br />like a quiet, idyllic place with few hints of what it was like that evening of July 28.
<br />
<br />The City spent about $5 million on flood recovery. The City Council originally
<br />appropriated $2,5 million to provide an account to spend from, the City expects to get a
<br />large amount back from the federal government and insurance, so the flood will end up
<br />costing the City about $800,000 to cover physical losses.
<br />
<br />The City Manager's report ultimately showed five people dead, 54 people injured, 200
<br />homes destroyed, and 1500 homes and businesses damaged throughout the City.
<br />Although the focus was on the trailer park, there were other parts oftown with
<br />frightening experiences and intense damage, The city is considering memorializing the
<br />deaths at the flood site, Four of the five were residents in the trailer park, and one was a
<br />resident downstream, near the trailer park.
<br />
<br />Performance of Storm Drainage System, Fort Collins was more prepared than most
<br />cities, because it has a nationally-recognized Stormwater Utility with several program
<br />areas, but it still learned a great deal from the flood about the operation of the storm
<br />drainage system, In the Utility, System Repair and Maintenance manages detention ponds
<br />and culverts across town and these facilities continuously need repair and maintenance,
<br />System Construction handles the larger projects. Development Review is a vital
<br />component because every development has to go through a review process, including
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