Tenants at SecurCare Self Storage in Boulder, Colo., have spent days sorting through belongings soaked and muddied by recent floods. The facility at 4545 N. Broadway St. sustained heavy damage during the storms, with water and mud flowing through the property and pushing into buildings and individual storage units.

The company is paying for moving trucks for its customers and working to relocate tenants to available units at its three other facilities in the area, according to Christine Wess, regional manager. Some tenants have decided to take what they could salvage home, while others instructed Wess to throw items away because of the damage, she said.

The buildings will be fine, but my heart breaks for my tenants, Wess said. It's just devastating.

Tenant Bunny Lester had moved artwork and other valuables into a unit 10 days before it was flooded. Among her stored items were original photographs from LIFE magazine given to her by her mother, who was an editor with the iconic publication. Lesters apartment also sustained flood damage, she said.

Another tenant, Crystal Brakhage, was fortunate she recently moved her belongings into a new unit. Although she still had to dig through about 5 inches of mud inside her unit to reach her property, her previous unit completely collapsed from the flood. I was fortunate in so many ways, she said. I could have lost everything. The water and the mud just kept coming.

Brakhage said she postponed a planned business trip to spend several days with a bucket, brush and sponge trying to clean damaged items.It's put everything on hold, she said.

Founded in 1988, SecurCare Self Storage Inc. is a privately owned company based in Lone Tree, Colo. It operates more than 140 storage facilities in 11 states. including 13 in Colorado.

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