HomeMy WebLinkAbout650225.tiffJune 24, 1965
Governor Love:
I am making a tour of all the flood effected counties to check
several things primarily the situation is so far4Sdamage to county
roads and county bridges. The state highway system has suffered
severe damage at the moment we are estimating at about 8 million.
Under the Federal Highway Act there is a 50-50 sharing basis so it
looks like something with the magnitude of 4 million that will have
to come out of state dollars on state highways. Now the county roads
and bridges do not come under this highway act that I am talking about
but there is Federal help there that you are probably familiar with
throught the Office of Emergency Planning. The direction - the thrust
of it is toward simply temporary and emergency repairs which can be
converted to dollars if the county itself choose to go ahead as I am
sure they will in all instances make permanent repairs.
So I have been down the Platte today and will be in Adams County
and the more eastern central counties tomorrow and then the first
part of the week down the Arkansas to attempt to correlate and assess
the figures in this regard in the event we do have a special session
I need to know what the real problems are. The Bureau of Public Roads
a Federal Agency together with the Highway Department has made a
preliminary survey and has some estimated figures which are not
firm as to the possible amount of money which might be coming through
the Office of Emergency Planning for each of the counties and the cities
I would like to know first - have you had an opportunity to assess the
damage to the county road and bridges just in Weld County.
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Mr. Shultz; At this time Governor we could not come up with a firm estimate at all
It would be a very unrealistic. I was out this morning so many of
our bridges are still filled with debris, we are working on it now
and until we get that out we can not tell the actual damage to the
bridge. We do know that we do have a number of bridges that have lost
some piling and we do know that we have lost a number. But as far
as making a firm estimate on it we can not at the present time. We
are hauling dirt filling in wash -out and holes. Trying to get as
many roads as possilbe carrying traffic again. I would hesitate
very much - it would be a wild guess.
Governor Love: For your inforipation the estimate again - its nothing firm
here that these people I was talking about mention as possible
funds announced that 224,750.00 - do you have any idea if that
is in the ball park or not?
Mr. Shultz: I actually believe it will be more than that
Governor: This doesn't actually represent or pretend to be the cost of putting
it all batik - this is what is estimated to take care of the emergency
tempory sort of access
Mr. Shultz: Well that would be no doubt take care of the emergency work of moving
debris, wash -outs filled , maybe some spans tied together. We believe
some roads will be closed for as long as 3 months.
Governor: Your people are not isolated? That is they can drive around or there
is access to every area
Mr. Shultz: By doing a little extra driving - we made a pretty close survey of that
we were down on the Platte this morning - its going to cause some to
drive 4, 617 miles additional.
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Governor: The funds that might be available for this purpose in the county
can you give me any idea what situation the county is in in this
regard? I ask in of course in relationship to possible state
action to get over this emergency. Do you have funds that are
anywhere near this magnitued that can be used.
Mr. Shultz: Well to use what funds we have would literally stop all improvements
and work that we had planned, of course emergency work somes ahead
of any planned improvements. But we really hate to be blocked here
and not be able to make our improvenents. But if it comes down
to where we have to use our own money- I think maybe we can crawl
out from under our actual damage - but it would stop everything else.
Governor: You think that you probably could crawl out from under';but not
do any other road improvements or that type of improvements.
Mr. Shultz: Thats right - it means we would go backword - instead of holding our own
Governor: In the interest of expediating this could you use if we could furnish
them to you some informed and knowlegeable people in the area of
roads and bridges to help you appraise and assess the cost of what
you are going to need to do?
Mr. Shultz: We would welcome any help.
(John)
Governor:AAJe On this meeting Monday at Morgan - deos it include Weld County. You
are familiar with that meeting?
Mr. Shultz: We were called on that yesterday.
This meeting as I understand it will be a breifing on the procedure
This project application I first thought that each road and each
bridge would be a subject of a separate application. It is my
understanding that is not true now. But you will get application
forms as Weld County to list the various projects, flood damage
and so on and it inheritant in it of course some delay
so is we could be of help in helping to assess this more quickly
so a reasonable application can be filed I think it might be helpful
Mayor Rissler: May I ask you a question Governor? Would this include bridges
within the corporate limits of Greeley , we have three - I believe
there is damage to as John said I don't know if Mr. Miller knows
the extent of the damage yet or not.
Mr. Miller; Two of them Governor the water is still to high to tell about any
under girding of it but in one we had an approach away but I believe
within the range from 5 to 10 thoudand dollars. We should be able
to pull out of that alright unless we find extensive damage we
do not know about right now.
Governor: On this same list of figures I had I had about 2,400 dollars
for Greeley as an estimate - now how good that estimate is no one
knows but in answer to your question - my understanding is that
Greeley has separate governmental entity would file a separate project
application for its problems. Greeley itself had some road and bridge
but no water or sewage or other public facility damage that I know of
is this correct?
Mr. Miller: I believe there is some to the city disposal.
Mayor Rissler Yes, but I don't if that has been apprais& yet or not Merv.
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We have a new plant going :up right by the river - it is under contruction
now. portion of it were under water.
Governor: This is the type of facility which fits within this program.
Mayor Rissler: It is about half to seventy-five percent completed so we will have
to get an appraisal from the contractors as to the damage that has
been done to the completed part.
Governor: Do you know off -hand any other incorporated towns or cities within
Weld County which have either road streets of other public damage
Mr. Shultz: Right at the present time I couldn't say Governor theme has been minor
street damages but as far as any real bad damage. I cant think of any.
Some of these towns up and down the river they have had some street
damage and structure damage
Mayor Rissler: Elmer how about the bridge going east from Evans is that in the
County?
Mr. Shultz: That is in the county - its there but its weak no doubt.
Governor: Another general program which we are undertaking I believe the
plane were in the air today - a spraying program - to hold down
insects. Some of this is obvious from the ground . If you do
have equipment 'and would like aid in this we can get to you
the formula that has been suggested and make part of the spraying
problem situations that you need to get at.
Mr. Miller: Governor this is something that we are really goint to have to get at
There is a lot of area here on the Poudre that has over flowed and
we are not going to be able to get to with the small equipment
that we have.
John
Governor Aid How big a strech of the Poudre would that cover
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Mr. Miller: Well this would probably take us all throught the city limits to
Fort Lupton.
Mayor Rissler: It should extend on aways. Probably to Windsor.
Mr. Shultz: It should probably take in the entire river bottom.
Governor:
A lot of this country even when it spread wide you notice down the
and the drainage is such
Platte a lot of it the soil is such that is not leaving much stagnant
water but parts of it have accumulated and there are pools and we
have to watch that.
Mayor Rissler: We have some I know I was in Denver night before last Elmer
and I think this is in your district on 66 there is still a lot
of water west of
Mr. Shultz: Its trapped in there
Mayor Rissler: This is going to be a tremendous breeding place for insects.
Governor: Do you have any substantial number of homeless in the sense
Mr. Miller: We had approximately inside the city Governor Love approximately
Governor: Are they back in by and large.
they either had a home destroyed c
30 families who were evacuated.
Mr. Miller: Not all because the Poudre is still in some areas out of its bank
Mr. Dunbar: Quite a number of these had water in their homes
Mayor Rissler: These are you low income families
Mr. Miller: Approximately 10 square blocks.
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Governor: The Red Cross is on the job here isn't it?
Mr. Miller: Well the Civil Defense was activated, then through the Red
Cross facilities were taken care of particially.
Governor: I believe before we get to far away from the strain. I believe
the County Agent has a problem. 1,know he has had someinquiries
Mr. James: Is there a possibility on these small streams - I know the
Bijou is out of our county the Kiowa Creek next to it I have
had cells on this today there the Creek would possibly come
under the area to be sprayed.
Governor: Yes we intend to do it on a state-wide basis. No Bijou Creeks
have dried pretty swiftly - I don't think too many pools accumulated
there. Kiowa Creek may be a different thing.
Mr. James:
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Governors Aid Do you know bow such of this area we are talking about can be
Mr. Shultz:
Mr. James;
sprayed by plane and how much.by ground equipment.
Wouldn't you say George that practically all of it could be
sprayed by plane.
Yes.
Mr. Millet: I think in the Greeley area that 2/3rd by plane: and the rest
by small equipment
Governor:
Now the formula that has been suggested is a mixture of apex and
the oil that is in there - I don't know if it is only in there
aireal. I understand that some of these areas the oil would
be a difficult thing for you to handle. Is this right
City of Greeley
Representative If you had the type of equipment to handle it then it would be
alright
Governor: Wexkanexdomax
Mayor Rissler: That takes care of the spraying - we have a couple of business
in Greeley that were damaged pretty badly. This is Winograds
Do you have any estimate of the damage there Merv?
Mr. Dunbar: I called Mr. Winograd( this morning and he had a very vague
estimatebut it could run as high as 25 to 30 thousanollars
It would be very difficult to determine the extent of damage.
It is still under 4 - 5 feet of water particularly the eas
end. Hensel Phelps said he had in the area of 2,000 to 5;000
dollars damage.
Governor: The other general area - the various irrigation facilities -
irrigation districts as such there is not doubt they .qualify
as public facilities. We still need a legal opinon on mutual
ditches on whether they qualify as public facilities. We are
working on that and we will let you know in that regard as
soon as possible. But as I say primarily these other things
are certainly of interest to me and so on but I would like to have
this as quickly as possible - we will give you some help if
necessary - the kind of idea about what kind of financial
position Weld County is in in regard to its roads 8 bridges
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Mr. Shultz: We appreciate it Governor. We are still Mn the dark I assure you.
As far as seeing what our damage is at the present time. You take
the Poudre I know we have damage on it but as to knowing definitely
what it is going to amount to we can't see it. We have actually
lost a bridge off the Poudre. But the under pining and there is
probably piling gone
Governor: I suppose one of the big differences is between Weld And some of
the others is and maybe you won't be able to get the kind of help
you need is that you are one of the few in which the water is still
high enough that it prevents you from really assessing the Poudre's
Mr. Shultz; Its still in flood stage.
Governor: Its true the Platte is still carrying a big head of water but
in most instance they can-. tell what needs to be done
Mr. Dunbar: I would estimate in my district about 80 percent of the bridges
are damaged to a certain degree. It is difficult to determine
what damage has been done until you start to repair them. you
do not know how stable the piling is. We have already run into
difficulty
Governor:
Mr. Shultz:
Do you have any other problems that we should be looting at
for coodination or help.
At the moment I can not think of any Governor - maybe something
will develop.
Govermor: Perhaps one thing that has developed as we have gone around here
and so I am as yet without an armor as far as the assessed value
of propet
amage by the flood the statue is quite clear where
personal property or improvements have been destroyed or
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damaged as a result of the flood. The property owner is supposed
to notify the Assessor who is to make a new assessment and then
pro rate over the year. Some question has arisen as to what is
meant by improvements — does the agricultural that has been
badly washed and so on - do we have some loss of value in the
land. We are going to help provide some state direction on that
for the Assessor. But I think in looking down the line di the
affairs of the county that perhaps in due time some assessment
you are going to loose
of how much assessed valuation would be a good thing to do
Mayor Rissler: I know I have talked to farmers in the area who are going to
have to bring in land levelers and get their farms back in shape
where they can irrigate again. They have just been washed
completely out of proportion. iixwemidxseemsxtxxmeximxikisx
Governor: It would seem to me and this is just my opinion that certainly
irrigation ditches are improvements and I would think also
that the kind of damage which would require land leveling
probably is but we will be working on it as soon as possible
Well I will at least get someone from the highway department
or Bureau of Public Roads who is qualified to - attempt to
get them to consult with you so we can get a fairly accurate idea
as soon as possible so we can receive.
Fire Dept.
Governor - there is certainly one thing we appreciate on our
area of the state was the prior warning we got throygh wariegx
the Civil Defense people. I was amazed in the way the word
came down, even though to us in Greeley it was a three hour
warning that exteneded for three days but it was quite a bit of help
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Governor:
I think it is good and I am proud of a lot °Organization and the
people for the way this thing has worked. I have seen and heard
of examples all across the state where people didn't ask questions
they just pitchedhin and helped and the relatively small l@ Ss of
life and the quick snap -back attributes to a good many people
Fire Dept. I think Weld County was pretty well covered withing fivemminutes
of the initial warning or word received to our people, throught
radio stations and everyone involved.
Mayor Rissler: I want to congratulate the air national guard. they came
forth with 40 to 50 men ready for call whenever needed.
Governor Love: Our entire National Guard did a splendid job - they were badly
needed in many communitites, Denver, Holly, Lamar and so on.
Mr. Dunbar: Would you like to make a statement on the possibilites of
federal aid
Governor; The federal aid situation once the President declares this a
disater area which he has done, this triggers or make applicable
Public Law 875 , a federal law, which constitutes the Office of
of Emergency Planning the cordinating agency for all federal
agencies to provide disaster assistance. Now as far as public
facilities are concerned, public facilities of course include
roads and bridges. Funds will be provided throught the
mechaniciam throgit Public Law 875 for emergency ortemporary
repairs. This is true of sewage plants, water , roads,ibiidges
this sort of thing. The amount can be determined and then
can be applied against more than temporary solution or what
the problem is and this is ei in the effect what this figure
represents itself being. Some approximation to the 224,000.00
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of perhaps the federal funds which might be forth coming on
roads and bridges for Weld County. If the bridgeis out the
dollar amount is determined as I understand it by computing
the amount of money it would be necessary to put across
a timber bridge across or in some instances perhaps a culvert
and a fill. You can not tell what the approach will be
but there will be federal aid to extent now that depends
upon further analysis. This is what we are grouping for
to find out with the damage some federal aid , what
assistance from the state level is necessary to make it
work as fare as the state and counties are concerned.
This in part is what the Monday meeting will be about,
there is a long list of Federal agencies which can be
utilized, but you will be able to get application forms
at the Monday meeting which you can start to fill out
andi.if you have questions about them the Office of Emergency
Planning - we have a state man assigned - he will be officing
at the Armory in Denver with General Moffit who will be
my representative in this regard and wither the overnors
Office or that office will be able as you develop specific
problems should be able to help you solve them.
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