FLOOD10353

• County: Larimer
• Community: Fort Collins
• Stream Name: Big Thompson River
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Twenty Years Later, What We Have Learned Since the Big Thompson Flood - Proceedings of a Meeting Held in Fort Collins - July 13-15, 1996
• Date: 7/13/1996
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
SINCE THE BIG THOMPSON FLOOD

Eve Gruntfest
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

Introduction

Thompson Canyon

The Big Thompson Canyon is one of the most scenic in the Rocky
Mountain region. U.S. Route 34 runs through the canyon, adjacent to the
river in many spots, and it is the main link between the Colorado plains and
Rocky Mountain National Park. In June 1976, just before the flood, the full-
time canyon population was estimated to be 600 and part-time residents
numbered approximately twice that. Also, an undetermined number of
tourists were present, attracted by trout fishing, Rocky Mountain National
Park, stream-side motels, and campgrounds (Gruntfest, 1977).
Three major communities reside in the 25-mile canyon that runs west from
Loveland, Colorado

The Big

which lies just above the Narrows;

Drake, the largest town, located at the confluence of the North Fork
and the Main Fork of the Big Thompson; and

Cedar Cove

1)

2)

a smaller town on the North Fork of the Big Thomp-

Glen Comfort,
son.

3)

The Flood

On July 31, 1976, the Big Thompson Canyon was filled with residents and
visitors. It was the Saturday of the weekend commemorating Colorado's
Centennial and the last holiday weekend before the start of the school year.
That night a flash flood ravaged the canyon, causing the worst natural
disaster, in terms of documented lives lost, in Colorado state history. The
death toll of a 1921 flood in Pueblo may have been larger; however,
estimates of lives lost in that flood range from 100 to 350.
Heavy rain fell over a 70-square-mile area in the central portion of the Big
Thompson watershed between 6:30 and 11:00 p.m. The most intense rainfall,