It’s been another difficult week in Pagosa Country, with so many of our community members learning the fates of their properties and homes following the recent floods.
We’ve heard multiple community members recount losing possessions, losing their accessible living space and losing their homes entirely.
We still have fellow community members who are unable to get out since the floods or who are unable to get home since evacuating.
Our hearts continue to be heavy, knowing that some we share our community with have no idea where they’ll be able to live soon.
We are also absolutely devastated after learning of a death attributed to the flooding, and we send our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Robert Scott.
And we know this is far from over.
The heartache will continue as our neighbors continue to return home to begin the daunting task of cleaning up the devastation the floodwaters left.
Thankfully, the community has come together in breathtaking fashion to support each other with love, kindness, compassion, donations and physical goods.
We urge our community to keep up this spirit of loving and supporting each other, and to keep up the work of helping our neighbors and community members.
We continue to see people going the extra mile to ensure our community and those in it are taken care of in so many ways — roads, food, clothing, cleaning items, mental health and more — and for that we are so fortunate.
The need is far from done.
We need to continue to be there for each other. The next few months and years will continue to be difficult as we mourn what we’ve lost and figure out how to move forward.
Continue checking on each other. Continue lending a helping hand. Continue taking care of yourselves.
Continue supporting local resources, organizations and shops. By doing so, you support everyone in our community and help our corner of the world be more resilient.
We are also fortunate to continue to have bright spots to focus on amid the challenges of the last few weeks.
Despite historic flooding and with creativity that included multiple helicopters, multiple counties and help from the state, Archuleta County successfully held its election.
Despite historic flooding that cut off portions of our community, school officials, coaches and parents helped the Pagosa Springs High School Pirate football team to make it to their second-round playoff game in Wellington on Nov. 7. They even made the state news as they made memories.
Despite the flooding, many of our community’s school children got to return to the classrooms, to their friends and to a bit of normal this week.
Despite the flooding, the community continued to make a concerted effort to honor our nation’s veterans through multiple events, ceremonies and efforts in honor of Veterans Day.
It was another difficult week, but we continue to be amazed by the wonderful people we share this community with and those here to help.
Let’s continue to be in this together, and let’s continue to love Pagosa (and the entire affected area).
Randi Pierce
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