Veterans Descend On Longmont To Help Clean Up
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) - Everyone has been accounted for in Boulder County and right now the focus is turning to clean up.
A lot of volunteers are coming to the aid of flood victims, especially in a Longmont neighborhood that was hit hard.
Volunteers are truly putting good in the world in the midst of so much ruin. They've had to bring in front-end loaders and dump trucks. The St. Vrain River made a new channel right through a Longmont neighborhood. Every single house was flooded.
On Friday an Army of volunteers came to help, including veterans of the Army and every other branch of military. Mounds of debris littered the streets. Homeowners walked around en masse. The Greens' neighborhood in Longmont looks like a war zone. Who better to respond than those who have been to war?
"We're used to rapid deployment; get your boots on quick and get the job done," veteran Douglas Buschbach said.
Buschbach is a member of Team Rubicon, a group of veterans who volunteer unpaid in disasters, putting the skills they learned in the military to work.
"Logistical supplies, operations, planning, staging; and on top of that, you put in the fact that we're great at improvising, adapting," Buschbach said. "We can overcome any situation through ingenuity … surprisingly enough, we're used to conditions like these."
"You wonder, is this for real? Is somebody really going to do this?" flood victim Keith Solt said.
Solt is a Navy veteran himself. He understands the desire to serve but says the volunteers are going above and beyond.
"You have things to do, families, and to put this in, boy, they've got some kind of dedication," Solt said.
"We all joined the military because we're not afraid of hard work. We all want to serve something bigger than ourselves. When a lot of people get together to help selflessly, we can move mountains," Buschbach said.
Team Rubicon started three years ago with five veterans. Today it has 13,000 members. It operates entirely on donations. The veterans take vacation time and unpaid leave from their jobs to come to help. Right now their operating base is in sheds in a Home Depot parking lot. They don't even know where they're going to sleep.
Colorado Floods: How To Help
The recent floods are impacting families and communities throughout Colorado, so CBS4 has compiled a list of ways you can support the local communities impacted by the floods.
