GUADALUPE, Colo. - On Thursday, Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, as well as Representative Jeff Hurd, spent the day speaking with flood victims of the recent flooding in southwest Colorado.
Touring parts of Guadalupe, Del Norte and South Fork, the congressmen heard from victims and local officials about the help they need at both the state and federal level.
"It's heartbreaking," Hurd told Denver7's Tyler Melito. "It's one thing to see it on social media or through official news broadcasts, but it's a different thing to see it in person."
Bennet told Melito it is gut-wrenching seeing what this part of Colorado has gone through.
"People are really worried that they've lost everything that they've worked their whole life to to create, and the infrastructure that they've relied upon for all these years has been destroyed," Bennet said.
The congressmen shared that they plan on amending the Major Disaster Declaration funding request Governor Jared Polis sent to President Donald Trump on Saturday, to include Conejos County.
Hickenlooper going as far to say he is confident the President won't deny the region funding, like he did after the 2025 floods.
"I have a friend of a friend who's got you know is a friend of Susie Wiles in the White House, and they tell me the president is going to be a different person," Hickenlooper shared with Melito. He realizes he doesn't have a majority anymore. If he wants to do anything in his last two years, he's going to have to collaborate. He's going to need Democrats and listen to Democrats and appreciate what our challenges are. I'm kind of optimistic that we're going to find a different Washington and a different White House when we go back."
Benett adding Conejos County specifically is in a tough spot for rebuilding, making it all the more important he says to secure every penny possible.
"They reminded us that this is one of the poorest counties in Colorado, and people there are a lot of people here that are, you know, no matter how hard they work, have been struggling to put together, you know, the funds to build to to to have a house or to be able to live in a trailer home here," Bennet outlined.
Hurd echoing that sentiment, sharing a conversation he had with a Del Norte resident.
"I had a trustee in Del Norte tell me that she has constituents, people that live in her community, senior citizens that are living with mold because of the the flooding that we had, that is not acceptable to me, we need to fix that," proclaimed Hurd.
Hickenlooper noted how he has served Coloradans in a number of ways over the years. He noted how it are moments like these, when people need help that remind him to keep giving his 100% best every day.
"One of the opportunities and one of the rewards of being in public service is that you sometimes can really help people at their worst moment, in their worst hard time," said Hickenlooper. "Dealing with people's sense of loss and especially you know a house where everything they own, all the stuff they've accumulated in their life, can be gone. I mean, that's that's heartbreaking."
Conejos County residents like Sally, Felicia, and Courtney Vasquez, three generations of a family who have called the region home for much longer say they still are in shock over the flood damage.
"So scary, scary, scary," Sally told Melito. "I never thought of seeing such a thing."
"It came up so fast, we didn't like in about 40 minutes," added Felicia. "It just rose to above my knee, and we really didn't know what to do."
Courtney shared the mental and emotional toll the flooding has taken on their community, one that never envisioned something like this could happen.
"it's just been rough on our on our day to day, like as of getting to work and getting across the yard," Courtney explained.
Sally added that they are hopeful some of the water that remains in their front lawn will go away soon.
"I asked Delfino, our county commissioner, if they could pump the water out. He said, Yes, they could. After all, this was after the senators and they came in. You know, they would do it," Sally said.
But says more help will be needed, long after the water goes away.
"I need money to fix my dent because I can't do it alone," Sally detailed. "You know, insurance won't cover. I'm a widow and I'm alone, so I I could appreciate any help that they were able to give us, you know, it would be it would be greatly appreciated."
"Clients and everybody are like, 'What can we do? What can we help you with?' And I'm just like prayers, prayers, prayers," said Felicia. "Cause, I mean, what can you do? I mean, we're just like I have no way to fix this."
Emergency Director for Conejos County Rodeny King told Melito the flooding came at a bad time for the community financially.
"One of the things that we're facing as a county, when we did budgets, my budget got cut about 20 percent this year," outlined King. "Hopefully, we can negotiate with Department of Homeland Security Emergency Management, State. Generally, it's 25/75, we pay 25. I'm hoping we can get that down because we can use TABOR funds, but you have to put it back the next year."
King, a lifelong Conejos County resident, says the key for them as they think about rebuilding is building structures and infrastructure that will last for decades.
"We don't want temporary because that's what it is temporary, and people will be living in it the rest of their lives. We want to have permanent structures that are good structures that they can live in and be comfortable," King said. "If we get federal funding, will again be, first of all, it'll come for public assistance. So our infrastructure, roads, bridges, highways, all of that stuff, public buildings."
Adding with winter seemingly on their doorstep with temperatures dropping, they are working feverishly to rebuild what they can.
"I know our road and bridge crew is working feverishly right now, trying to get things back where people can get in and out," King said.
In South Fork, officials told the congressmen that more than 2,700 people were evacuated during the peak of the flooding, 65 of whom are still not home as more than two dozen homes are inaccessible due to damaged bridges.
First responders in that community are comparing this flood to 2013's floods, but the difference with 2026 is the timing as it makes things significantly more challenging to rebuild vital roads like US 160 during the winter months.
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