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Some Milliken Flood Victims Say Help Came Too Late

MILLIKEN, Colo. (CBS4) - Several residents of the town of Milliken in Weld County say the emergency response since their town was inundated with flood waters has made them feel as if they are living in a forgotten town.

On Monday Jesse Olivas and his sons surveyed the flood damage to their trailer home in the Evergreen trailer home park.

"We've got to start our life again," said Jesse Olivas, who has lived in the home for 40 years.

Milliken Residents
Jesse Olivas and his sons show the damage to CBS4's Tom Mustin. (credit: CBS)

On Sept. 12 a wall of mud engulfed Olivas' home and other trailer homes. For more than a week they waited for some kind of help it never came.

RELATED: VP Biden In Colorado, Views Flood Devastation

"(I thought we'd have) port o potties for the people. You know, somebody to come in here with machinery or something," Olivas said.

Without portable toilets and electricity, residents became angry, seemingly forgotten while other communities like Lyons, Jamestown, Boulder were already getting going on rebuilding.

"You wish they would treat everybody else the same. They aren't any different from us," Olivas' son Joseph said.

Olivas said that by the time FEMA inspectors were allowed into the home park, his building was already a total loss.

Milliken Mayor Milt Tokunaga says he sympathizes residents in the trailer home. He says crews were kept out of the area for safety reasons, a move he admits may have been an overreaction.

"All of us would have liked to have worked faster than we did," Tokunaga said. "Yes, we would have liked to have gotten in there sooner. Whether it is right or wrong I guess it's up for everybody's opinion."

FEMA officials are expected back in the trailer home park within three days.

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.

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