Evacuation Risk The New Normal For Tight-Knit Community Inside The Cameron Peak Burn Scar
(CBS4) - Evacuations are something those who live along the burn scar from the Cameron Peak Fire are all too familiar with. While some fire evacuees have a bag packed and are ready to go at a moment's notice, others say they avoid thinking about it. But all of them know now they are at risk of having to once again leave their homes.
"I have been here 21 years I have never seen anything like this," Connie Archer said of this week's situation in Poudre Canyon.
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She owns Archers Poudre River Resort and welcomes new campers daily. After surviving the Cameron Peak Fire she and other business owners in the area knew flash flooding would be there next threat.
"You have these summer storms -- gulley washers is what they are -- and when you have an area where nothing is there to stop it. No grass, no trees, it's going to take out things," Archer said.
Jay Marks was fishing along the Cache la Poudre River when Tuesday night's summer storm rolled in and did just that.
"Next thing I know there was a huge debris field of logs, branches and it turned dark grey and murky," he said.
Having fished for most of his life, he says it's something he won't soon forget.
"I have never seen a river do what this one did," Marks said.
For Archer, who just a few months ago was evacuating because of the massive wildfire, even living under what seems like a constant threat, the area is home and her livelihood is along the river.
"The community all along the Poudre River -- we are a very tight community," she said.
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