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Carrie Gonzales tells the story of evacuating her mobile home - where she had lived for about 25 years - during the Boulder County Flood of 2013. Her home was one of many that flooded, leaving her and neighbors stranded at the elementary school on what became an island. She tells of the collaborative community feeling among Lyons people, the aid they got from the National Guard and from FEMA, and the long process of digging out and trying to recover their homes, cars, and other possessions. She has emerged from the experience of the flood with increased appreciation for the positive things in life and also has become an advocate for recreating affordable housing in Lyons that would allow people to remain in the community.

Sharon Cole, who lost one home to the Fourmile Fire in 2010, and then experienced major damage to another house in Fourmile Canyon in which she lived at the time of the Flood of 2013, gives an eyewitness account of the flood's effect on houses, roads, bridges, and creek beds during those September days in 2013. She tells of moving within the canyon for safety, of eventual evacuations and returning to survey damages and rebuild, and of the large role played by friends and even neighbors who previously did not know each other but were drawn together as a community by disaster.

George Gerstle, the director of the Boulder County Transportation Department, discusses the condition of county roads as a result of the September 2013 floods. He identifies county roads and bridges that experienced significant damage and discusses the immediate and long-term response to reconstruct and reroute them. He also discusses bicycle traffic, emergency response, utilities repairs, and construction cost, and a county website that was set up to provide residents with timely, needed information.