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EXCERPT FROM THE RIFLE "TELEGRAM, AUGUST 14, 1930 (a) RIFLE VISITED BY WORST FLOOD IN ITS HISTORY Cloud Burst Friday Night Costs life of Lee Clonch and Blocks Highway Travel in All Directions Rifle Creek Bridges Carried Out bv Storm. But Damage in Town Is Restricted to Flooded Cellars Storm Area Local The vorst flood in Rifle's history come Friday evening, August 8, when two storm centers, one directly east of town on Grahaa mesa and the other northwest on Government creek brou,:!:h a de- luge of water upon a limited local area straddlln~ the town site. According to the U.S. Weather 8ureau instruro.ents 2.15 inenes of water fell with.in two hours. from 8:30 to 10:30, and most of it with- in an hour and a half. Lee Clonch. setinR as patrolman for the State Highway Department had started to carry a lantern across the bridge on West Third street to place as a warnin~ to oncomin~ motorists. when the brid~e fell into the swollen stream. and Clonch disap- peared from view il1 the darkness. His body has not yet been recovered. As in former and lesser floods of this region, the heaviest rainfall was in the valley of Government creek.. and the main stream of Rifle creek above the junction of the two was not seri- ously 4ffec~ed. Where the highvay to Meeker crosses Govern- ment creek the concrete apron withstood the flood, but the waters jZ:ouRed out a yawning gap just east of this ~aking the hi~hway impassable. A mile or more down the stream was the bridge which has been used on the detour road since an earlier flood made the North Railroad avenue bridge impassable a few weeks ago. This quickly yielded to the flood and the waters also washed out the road bed for a considerable distance. At the Railroad avnue brid~e the swollen stream deepened and Widened the channel of the fot1ll.er flood. and added measurably to the work necessary to be done for tts repair. (a) Simulated fpom oroiginal. 17 THIRD STREET BRIDGE FALLS A large crowd had gathered to watch the ris- ing waters on the brid~e on West Third street and it soon became evident that this structure was in serious danger. Following the former flood con- siderable work had been done in strengthening the approaches, and the railroad company had a force of men emploved in putting hUjZ:e ooulders aga1nst the east aank just below the brid~e. By 10 o'clock the water had resched allDOst to the level of the bridge floor and a torTent was pouring over the embankment below the bTidge. At IOt20 the west abutment vas swept away and the bridge itsf.lf fell into the stream. the east end however remain- ing upon its abutment. Altho the concrete floor. ~ foot in thickness, was badly twisted only a fe~ cracks were visible and it almost see~d that the ~ridge as a whole might be lifted back to its position. West of the bridge, the road bed vas de8tro~'ed for forty feet and a new bed [was] dug thru. which the stream now flows. Sl'ORM WAS NARROWLY LOCAL A strange feature of the storm was its limited extent. At Grand Valley there was very little rain. and the same was true at the Hahnewald ranch south of the -river. Very little rain fell at the Claude Rees ranch on Upper Government creek. On East Rifle creek there was a heavy rain but no flood. There was but little rain at New Castle, and the Elk creek road north of the Hogback was noc damaged and remained open -thru the week. East of New Castle the rain was heavier, and some alight damage resulted to the road. There was a heavy rain at Meeker Friday afternoon, but no Itorm in the evening. Weather condition continUed unsettled thru- out the week v1th thunderstorms in chis re~1on every day. Sunday afternoon a severe storm that 41d .uch daIMRe vas reported f1;O. Divide creek.