LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — After floods roared through the Poudre Canyon Tuesday, some people who needed to evacuate sought refuge in the both the cabins and parking lots of a few longtime resort campgrounds in Rustic.
“It just came up real high you know we were told it was coming and we didn’t see it, and all of a sudden it was here," said Tami Mazzuca, who co-owns Glen Echo Resort with her husband Dean.
The Larimer County Sheriff's Office received reports of flooding in Poudre Canyon at around 6:05 p.m. Tuesday. A mudslide near Black Hollow Road sent debris into the canyon, and destroyed several homes.
“We’ve seen a lot of debris.. you know, refrigerators, water heaters, you know, all kinds of stuff floating down the river," Mazzuca said.
Because the cabins at the resort were on higher ground, those were spared. The resort shared more details on their Facebook page.
But it also meant it would act as a safe spot for those who needed to evacuate their campgrounds or homes to go to.
“We operate until they tell us we can’t,” she said. “This is where people come, you know, I mean we had people parked in our parking lot last night sleeping and you know we put people up in cabins and that kind of stuff so, we can’t close.”
While they will continue to operate, they admit that there have been a few times recently that business has seen it's times of struggle, whether it was due to COVID-19, the Cameron Peak Fire and now the recent flooding.
“We get cancellations, you know people are afraid to come up and so we’ve lost just business for the near future. But for the store, all of this, just yeah it struggles," Tami said.
However, she says at the end of the day, it's not all about the money.
"It’s about the people who need this place here," she said.
Just up the road is Archer's Poudre River Resort, who also took in those who needed to evacuate. They also posted more details to their Facebook page.
“When I first went over there it just was some small debris coming down just some small logs and so on," said co-owner Connie Archer. "...but within 5 to 10 minutes the water went up probably about 2 feet and then we started getting the huge logs, trees with roots in tact…”
Luckily for them too, the cabins were spared, and although it meant she was able to help people in their time of need, it also meant business had to come to a halt.
“Right now it’s very hard for me to want people to come in because I don’t want anybody to be in danger or anything like that but I also know that this is my busy time of the year – this is the time that I make my money for the winter," she said.
But overall, Archer also says the community is strong through tough times like this.
“Poudre Canyon is strong," she said.
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