Manitou Springs confident in mitigation work

Heavy rain in the forecast caused some nervousness among business owners in Manitou Springs, but most say they trust the mitigation efforts.

Manitou Springs got some rain Monday morning. Frank Maiolo, of the Commonwheel Artists Co-Op says he was keeping an eye on Fountain Creek. Nearly three years ago, the creek overflowed causing major damage along Canyon Avenue.

“The flooding was quite bad. the basement filled up with a lot of mud, water and a lot of the items in the basement were destroyed,” Maiolo said.

But many are hopeful that won’t happen again. They trust mitigation efforts like a big culvert built at the top of Canyon Avenue.

“I know we’ve had a couple small scares, but nothing big since then,” said William Maestas of the Goldminers Nuts & Candy shop.

Businessowners along Canyon Avenue have put up small sliding gates in front of their doors to keep away potential flood waters and debris if anything were to happen.