linda tarr's home was just rebuilt after a forest fire. she was forced to evacuate when the torrential rains started. >> washed out the road all the way down. and i was six miles up that canyon. so how long can it take, you know, to repair that road. >> there's been story after story after story of people that just struggled to get here and then just almost that collapse of that i'm safe. that it's going to be okay and it won't wash away. >> a third of jamestown, colorado completely washed away. just imagine your hometown, a third of it gone. roads are impassable and it could be weeks before help arrives. the town's mayor was one of 40 people who stayed behind. >> it's the same. from the beginning of the town to the he said of town, just devastated. it's up rea's unreal. you see it happening in other communities and you don't ever think it will happen to yours. >> officials say it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from this particular disaster. >>> thanks but no thanks. brazilian president has canceled her state visit to

tarr: it's not a problem of point "x" and point "y" alone. this is a watershed problem. a watershed problem. lichte: the watershed encompasses many municipal boundaries and it doesn't know any local politics. narrator: in the pittsburgh system, 83 cities and towns use the same sewage treatment plant -- alcosan. so all 83 municipalities have to work together to address the problem. schombert: we know we have billions of dollars that will have to be spent over the next 15 to 20 years. you can't do that wisely when you have 83 separate government agencies making decisions. the municipal consent orders and the alcosan consent decree require that the municipalities participate in a long-term, regional wet weather control plan. narrator: the information gathered in the initial research phase of the wet weather control plan will inform the large-scale infrastructure overhaul. and, as this research moves forward, pittsburgh is also working with environmental groups that are cleaning up the watershed. woman: make that connection. man: like a mural on the side of a building? woman