Adams County commissioners will hold a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Commerce City Recreation Center to address the needs of community members affected by flood damage.
The purpose of the meeting is to register residents who have sustained flood damage with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as discuss the possibility of establishing a debris removal team, said Rich Neumann, spokesman for Adams County.
Last week, Adams County was confirmed as a major disaster area by FEMA.
Neumann said there are 1,600 buildings and approximately 400 feet of roads that were flooded. Of those buildings, 1,150 are homes and 188 are commercial properties.
FEMA, in partnership with Adams County, Commerce City and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, set up a disaster assistance center at the Commerce City Recreation Center on Sept. 18-21 to reach residents with property damage.
“We have really no way of knowing exactly which of those properties have been affected,” Neumann said. “They need to come forward and request assistance.”
Three homes were known to be severely damaged by flooding, and there is at least $167,000 in known damage, he said. That’s a low estimate, though.
To continue reaching these people, FEMA set up a disaster recovery center at the South Adams County Fire Department at 4711 E. 69th Ave. in Commerce City on Sept. 23.
The disaster recovery center is open for 30 days, every day, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., said Heather McDermott, director of Adams County office of emergency management.
“This really illustrates how these types of recoveries are a very long-term process,” Neumann said. “There are national recoveries still going on for (Hurricane) Katrina, for example.”
The temporary disaster assistance center helped about 100 flood victims talk to insurance companies, register with FEMA and get tetanus vaccinations last week.
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, or mmitchell@denverpost.com
