Lengthy recovery mode challenges area

If continuing to recover from wildfires in 2012 and 2013 weren’t enough for southern Colorado residents, now they’re dealing with new threats from wet spring weather.

On Saturday, workers checked on flood mitigation work done on Rampart Terrace Road in Cascade. The area has had heavy spring runoff flowing down steep roads, causing erosion and some home flooding.

The Suuck family’s basement at the bottom of the hill on Rampart Terrace was flooded.

“We had to rip out the carpet and the padding,” said Nicole Suuck. “We had to get rid of some furniture, too. Our insurance isn’t covering it, so we’re on our own.”

Workers used sandbags and metal construction rails to direct the water into a drain and limit damage.

“If workers had come out and done repairs when we first asked them to, we could have avoided a lot of our damage,” said Matt Suuck, Nicole’s husband.

Without the railing, some neighbors would be unable to get in and out of their driveways.

Also on Saturday, a group of 26 volunteers — mostly Boy Scouts — planted 100 trees near the entrance of the Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs. Nearly all of the ranch’s trees burned in the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire.

Heather Vozzola, the ranch’s volunteer coordinator, said earlier replanting efforts largely failed because the soil was too damaged and needed time to support new trees.

“We’ll replant gradually and naturally with fewer trees per acre than before,” she said. “It was too thick before and that’s why the fire was so bad.”

Other hazards faced more often than usual by residents this spring include potholes, sinkholes and collapsed retaining walls.