Colorado Springs, Colo. — One of the hardest hit by a slow-moving storm that left neighbourhoods in Colorado in ruins is the Alpine Autism Center in Colorado Springs.
The hail-infused storm swept through Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs Monday, and was so powerful it swept cars along with it.
For the Alpine Autism Center, the damage was severe enough to immobilize its entire operations.
In an interview with Fox 21 News, Amanda Erker, a teacher at the center, recalls:
“We saw a river kind of coming from the gate from Flying W land, and then I went to go get one of the other supervisors and I came back and the wall of water was coming over the sand bags… Couldn’t get outside. We were stuck in the building. Once we tried to evacuate we were stuck. We had walls of water coming down both sides of the building.”
What’s even more catastrophic is that Alpine Autism Center, being a non-profit organization, relies heavily on fundraising events to sustain the existence of the center— but the storm left supplies for its forthcoming fundraisers severely damaged. Operations Director Kimberly Trujillo explained that as a non-profit, whatever they manage to rasie is whay keeps them funded. She further added:
“if we have nothing to raffle, if we have nothing to auction off we’re going to be at a huge loss.”
Among those damaged during the storm were items the center was supposed to use for a raffle and auction at a golf tournament fundraiser which was supposed to take place Friday. Because of this, the center’s fundraisers for this year will be significantly affected.
Source: Kody Fisher: Fox 21 News: Alpine Autism Center hit hard by storm