Colorado Governor Directs Flood-Repair Funds, Crisis Counseling

Gov. John Hickenlooper says $13 million from a state lottery fund will be used to help restore parks, trails and open spaces damaged by last year’s floods.

Hickenlooper and officials of lottery-supported Great Outdoors Colorado traveled on Wednesday to Lyons, one of the worst-hit communities, to announce $5 million in grants for 14 projects in Boulder, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Morgan and Weld counties. Another $8 million is for a trail from Lyons to Estes Park, a project that is a partnership between the state’s parks and transportation departments.

Tuesday, the federal government announced a new $4 million grant for nine more months of crisis counseling for survivors of September floods that killed nine people, destroyed and damaged thousands of homes and washed away hundreds of miles of road.