“Hurricane Cochina” flooded the Pueblo neighborhood of Peppersauce Bottoms last summer, leaving the working-class neighborhood under several feet of mud and residents furious at the city. The storm on Aug. 26, 2006, wasn’t really a hurricane. It was a 4-foot flood of stormwater that residents dubbed “Cochina,” the Spanish word for filthy.
The rushing water from a rainstorm inundated the 30 homes in Peppersauce Bottoms – named after the hot peppers grown there by Japanese immigrants in the 1920s. The neighborhood is one of the lowest-lying spots in the city.
“It was like a lake,” said Gloria Cornejo. “It just kept coming. My daughter was so scared. She kept asking me if we were going to die.”
The flood filled basements, ruined furniture, destroyed furnaces and damaged floors. Family photographs and mementos were lost. No one had flood insurance.
Residents in the predominantly Latino neighborhood had asked the city for years to protect them from recurring floods. Nothing was done.
City officials say they are now considering a $4.5 million project to upgrade stormwater systems and build detention ponds for excess water.
Spending the money is difficult to justify, however, said Dennis Maroney, the city’s stormwater director, because the total valuation of Peppersauce Bottoms homes is only about $1 million.
Some have suggested moving the homes, Maroney said.
The residents, however, filed a “notice of claim” with the city in February to keep the door open for a lawsuit under the Fair Housing Act.
“It has a strong neighborhood feeling there, and people want to stay,” Maroney said. “If they do, we will try to work with them.”
Blocked drains all over town
It was on Aug. 26 – just around the time of the Hurricane Katrina anniversary – that the flood hit Peppersauce Bottoms.
The storm developed west of the city in Fremont County and moved into Pueblo, packing hail, rain and gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
The gusts tipped an airplane onto its nose at the Pueblo airport and knocked over a tree at the state fairgrounds. Peppersauce Bottoms residents remember the skies darkening.
Knee-deep, muddy water poured in from streets above, traveling across railroad tracks.
“You could see all the water coming over from the railroad tracks,” said Jose Cornejo Jr. “It was bad, like a river.”
Culverts beneath railroad bridges clogged with debris, causing more water to funnel toward Peppersauce Bottoms.
“I remember my mom’s face when she said, ‘Mijo, what can you do?”‘ Cornejo said. “I couldn’t do anything.”
Neighborhoods at higher elevations with inadequate storm drainage sent water running down the streets toward Peppersauce Bottoms.
“It’s a very unfortunate place to be when a cloud opens up on Pueblo,” said former City Councilman Gilbert Ortiz.
State officials place the storm somewhere between a 5-year and a 25-year flood. Families still worry that chemicals flowing across railroad tracks contaminated their lawns. The EPA will begin testing soils within the month.
In 2000, neighbors petitioned the city to seek a $99,500 federal community block grant to build a 2-foot concrete wall to divert stormwater.
The city got the grant, but built a 2-foot dirt berm for $11,000 and spent the remaining money elsewhere, Ortiz said.
Residents say the city shortchanged the neighborhood.
“They just let it go,” said Ed Leanos, 59, who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life. “We’re just lucky no one got drowned that day.”
On a recent weekday, Leanos went through a storage shed on his property filled with materials damaged in the flood – throwing out items that couldn’t be saved.
Floods a fact of life in Pueblo
Flooding in Pueblo is part of the city’s history.
In the “Great Flood” of 1921, an overflowing Arkansas River destroyed downtown, wiped out more than 600 homes and caused $25 million in damage – equal to $252 million in today’s dollars.
A levee system to contain the Arkansas River was constructed to protect the city. Stormwater systems were also built throughout Pueblo.
Residents of Peppersauce Bottoms say they never were included in the plans. They also never got sidewalks, curbs or gutters.
“We have paid our taxes over 60 years,” said Bonifacio Cosyleon, whose 85-year-old mother lives in a cinder-block home in the neighborhood.
“The city has done these projects in and around the city,” he said. “Why haven’t they done them here?”
A 2-foot-tall concrete wall paid for with federal money wouldn’t have protected the neighborhood in the most recent flood, Maroney said, because it was higher than 4 feet.
“Even with all the new facilities, if we get another major event, they could be severely impacted,” he said. “They don’t like to hear that.”
No one wants to move, said Roni Baros, who has lived in Peppersauce Bottoms for 11 years and has seen her home flood three times and her mother-in-law’s home flood six times.
“It will continue to flood because it always floods here,” she said. “I just want them to fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer may be reached at 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
