A month after a flash flood closed the Alpine Autism Center, staff members are working to get their youngsters back into a routine while still worrying about the center’s future.

“We are happy to now have a temporary building, but the transition has been difficult,” said Sandra Ruvalcaba, clinical director. “It’s not home.”

The 30 students and 60 staff members were displaced Aug. 10 when a wall of water rushed down a slope and into their building in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood.

No one was hurt, but many staff vehicles were totaled and building repairs will take at least two more months.

Now the staff is working not only with students but also with city planners on mitigation to prevent future floods.

Re-establishing a routine has been hard, they say.

The center had moved into Temple Shalom near the Olympic Training Center but had to leave after a couple of weeks when the school year started and the rooms were needed for the Temple Shalom Preschool.

Now the center is renting the top floor of the old school at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 3122 Poinsetta Drive.

It doesn’t have as much space as the former 13,790-square-foot center, and it lacks Internet, phone and fax service.

So to do the billing and other administrative tasks, the operations director and another staff member drive back and forth to a different building.

The change also has been tough on the autistic children, who do best with a routine. They’re doing better than expected though, staff members say.

“Kids with autism really like to stay with one thing,” said Jacob Cox, a behavioral therapist at the center. “We all thought they would have a really hard time, but they’ve done really great.”

In addition to changing buildings, the students lost most of the toys, games and puzzles they used to learn and develop gross motor skills. Many had a favorite toy or game and have had to get along without them, Cox said.

“We’ve had some donations and new toys, but we’re nowhere near where we were before the flood,” he said.

Money is tight because insurance doesn’t help pay for rent, said Operations Director Kimberly Trujillo.

And city planners have told her flooding could recur.

That threat was well-known before Aug. 10. The Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012 had torched trees and vegetation on land above the center, leaving nothing to stop or slow water rushing down the slope.

“It’s like pavement,” city Stormwater Manager Tim Mitros said of the slope. “There, water isn’t being absorbed into the ground.”

Colorado Springs received $85,000 in grants and gifts to help pay for a flood wall, auxiliary spillway and debris rack, records show.

But despite improvements, the site remains vulnerable, Mitros said.

“The autism center was built in a terrible location. It’s built in a low spot and unfortunately, yes, it’s going to be at risk,” he said.

A flood inundation risk map shows that the autism center sits directly under a pond that could be a choke point for flooding.

At a minimum, the city should keep the retention basin free of debris that could cause the pond to overflow, planners recommend.

That’s exactly what happened Aug. 10, Mitros said. A flash flood pushed trees and branches down the slope, clogging the retention basin so the pond overflowed. Trap bags around the school stopped much debris but couldn’t stop the water.

And there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again, Mitros said.

“We’ve cleaned up the debris basin, and we’re trying to come up with different ideas to keep the debris from coming down off the burn area,” he said. “Maybe we need a higher wall in front of the center.”

For now, staff members are doing the best they can.

Friday was a Harry Potter theme day at the center, and students and staff wore capes, thick glasses and witch hats.

Sheryl Titmas, who was dropping off her 11-year-old grandson, said the transition has been a bit tough.

For him, Titmas said, “A continuous routine is important. To have so much change has set him back a little bit.”

But when the flood hit, the staff kept everyone safe, she said.

“They saved our kids in the flood. They were heroes.”

Memories of the flood and fears of another still loom in many staff members’ minds. Repeating the experience wouldn’t be merely depressing, Cox said. It would be impossible.

“It’s too hard. We cannot do this again,” he said. “We need to make sure that whatever they do this time will hold. We really need the city to step up and do something back there and do it right.”

But after seeing floodplain maps and talking with city planners, Trujillo said, she doesn’t trust the improvements to keep the center safe.

“If anyone out there wants to donate a building, please let us know,” she said. “We may need one.”

–

Contact Maria St. Louis-Sanchez: 636-0238

Twitter @mariastlouis

Facebook Gazette Maria St. Louis-Sanchez