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-.,.:'... -'.-... ~~.., - August 1976 :'')rt Collins Coloradoan 3 BIG THOMPSON'FLOOD-1976 I ..... ....... ..........'. BIG THOMPSON RIVER HIGHWAYS _DISASTER AREAS LANDMARK ESTABLISHMENTS .. . COLLIN r- .. N . The Big Thompson Iflood a night of tragedy By JAKEIlENSHAW Of the Cbloradoan . Fo"r residents of mountainous areas, canyons are more than Just .scenic gaps In the rocks. Their location and characteristics otten are among the most important 1nfIuences on the pattern of llves In populated areas. People frequently decide where to Uve and buUd, vacation and work depending on the width, depth and sheerneSS of a chasm. Sometimes a eanyon Is the home of a year-around stream and this too Is an In!Iuence on people. Not only recreation, but also the very lIte of communitt~ depends on the water and \he ooune \t toUO"oVa down a canyon. 'I11Is certa1nly has been the case with the Big Thompson Canyon. In the memory of most residents of the area, this canyon has been an lmportant part of the We of many people. It haB been the place 101' vacatlon homes and tIshing as well as a permanent residence for many, a part of the water system for llWT'OUIlding communities and a route for business travelers and sehoo1 eh1ldren. niAT AlL WAS altered more than anyone could have imagined on Saturday, July 31, 1976. On that day In the nation's bicentennial year, the state of Colorado was beginning a three-day weekend to celebrate Its own l00th blrthday, , 'The weekend weather foreCMt Issued Friday was typical, good enough for a weekend In the moonWns. "Oear to partly cloudy today with isolated afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy tonight and Saturday with widely scattered mainly afternoon showers and thunderstorms. A little cooler Saturday. Highs today 8Il to 95 with 70s to mjd 80s In the mOWltaJns. Lows tonight M to 65 with 40s and upper 30s In the mountains. Htghs Saturday 80s and a few low 90s with mostly 10s In the mountatns." 'I11Is was the standard summer forecast and every resident knew he had a good chance of escaping any signit1cant ratnlall with a Uttle luck. Even when It began to sprinkle between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Saturday In the upper canyon and Estes Park, few people gave It much thought. Thunderstorms form quickly in the Rock.1es, but they also d1sa.p- pear almost as qulckly after a brief OOwnpoW'. Some of the 3,000 to 4,000 people In the Big Thompson Canyon and Its north fork that night even reported later that, lniUally, the patter of rain on their cabin or traDer roofs was a soothing melody which blended pleasantly with the rippling of the nearby streams. But travelers on the road knew differently as the evening progressed.. Between 6 and 8 p.m. they were encountering ra1n 01 in- creasing intensity making driving moreandmored1ft1cu1t. . Overhead thunderheads, ranging up to 62,00::1 teet, stalled Instead ot moving across an area as they usually do. The oval-shaped center of the storm was hangtng right over the upper section of the main canyon between Drake and Estes Park and another Intense area was located nearGienHaven. Because of a broken remote radar transmjtrer In Umon, the Denver forecaster for the national Weather Service (NWS) that evening was dented some precise data on the weather developments. HIs work also was slowed because he had to take the radar information over the telephone. Just how much this break- down affected the forecaster's ability to predict a flash flood currently Is a subjed of debate as well as an Internalinvestigatton by the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration. What is certain 1.s that the NWS did not l8sue a flash flood warning unW after the flood water had roared through the canyon. At 7:35 p.rn. a weather bulleUn went out warn1ng of the possibility of a severe thunderstorm until 9 p.m. In eastern Lar1mer County, "'Ibere could be some flooding of low areas... especJaJly Just to the west of Fort Collins." AREA LAW enforcement agencies first heard alxlut problems In the Big Thompson from private phone caJJs about road trouble on U.S. 34. Sgt. Pat McCosh was the dispatcher that night at the Lartmer Qlunty Sheriff's office In Fort ())lllns. His first call about the canyon came between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. The caller said there were a oouple of boulders on the road near WaltonJa. The woman didn't mention rain and McQ)sh dldn'l even get her name or log the call because "it happens all the time." About the same time Jay Lorance, the radio dispatcher lor the Colorado State Patrol (a3P) in Greeley, received a private call about a "mtnor" road washout near Grandpa's Retreat. nus was his f1rst indication of trouble in the canyon, but again the call was considered routine. Lorance contacted Patrolman wUUam MUler, who was then five to seven mlles east of Estes Park on U.S. 36, and asked him to check out the report The lAveland Pollce Department also received a Teletype message from the CSP asking that the state highway department be contacted about the washout. BV 8 p.m, the Bureau of Reclamation, which had been f.r._'" . '~ , monitoring the heavy raJnfall, cut off the flow of water from Dry Gulch, located generally northeast of Estes Park, into the Big Thomp- son River. Within an hour the bureau had cut off the water entering Lake Estes through the tunnel from the Western Slope and was diverting the lake's water through its system Into Carter Lake and Horsetooth Reservoir, the latter by way of the siphon over at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon. The first call lor help came from MUleI' who radioed 10-33, an emergency, to the Estes Park Pollce Department between 8:25 and 8:30 p.m. He reported f1~ ao1 requested all help possiblE!. for ttre evacuatlonof people. About the same time McCosh received a call from a man In Drake who ldentttled himself as an ex-state patrolman and saId there was water crossing U.S. 34 above Drake, and "we're getting a real traffic problem. " 8:4-4. p.m.-Special SherIff's Deputy Larry Wyer contacted McCosh from Drake call1ng for help. "Down at Grandpa's Retreat, It'. going If it's not gone already," he. ""d. 8:44 p.m.-Ten seconds later the Estes Park Police dispatcher called McQ)sh to report flooding in the eanyon and to request aJd In rescue efforts. _ 8:4:1 p.m.-McCosh started calling his superiors Including Sheriff Robert Watson, all of who Imi mediately began wamtng people In' the area. 1 8:46 p.m._Lorance contacted the CSP supervl90r on call, Sgt. W. Hugh Purdy, at home In ulVeland. He told all oftlcera to stay in their assigned areas and left tor the canyon to Investigate the situation. 9 p.m. _ A weather bulletin waB, IssUed In Denver. It warned 011 thunderatorins moving slowly from Idaho Springs to Wyoming which "could result In some local flooding in the following Colorado counties , . . Northern Oear . . . Boulder. . . Larimer . . . and extreme eastern Jackson. Persons near the thun- The flood left 0 poth of destruction derstorms should be on the alert tor the heavy thundershowers." The rainfall was predicted to last untU about midnight. 9 p.m. "plus" - Rose MUler, dispatcher from the Loveland poUce, received a message from the state patrol telUng her to notify everyone from Drake down the canyon that "the water Is coming so fast that the headwaters are ex- pected to take the Dam Store and the (Loveland) power plant both," 9-9: HI p.m. - State Patrolman nmmy Uttlejohn reported very heavy water on the north fork of the can,yoo. 9:111 p.m.-Purdy called. "I'm ~k. I'm right,ln the mjddle 01 11. I can't get out. About a hal1-mUe east of Drake on the highway," He told Lorance to order everyone below him out of the canyon. That was his last transmission. 9:15-9:30p.m.-Capt. TerryUr1sta and Otflcer James Garcia of the sherttf's ottlce radioed from Cedar Cove. They said to get everyone ~t of the canyon and away from the river "oow." The two were trapped in thereunWSunday. 9:3().10 p.m.-Efforts, begun earUer, to notify everybody In the path of the rapidly rising water Intenstfled in person and by telephone. DespIte repeated warn- Ings, some people refused to move. Many never were even contacted. A few made two and three trips Into the dangerous areas to retrieve belongings. A late roadblock was set up at the mouth of the canyon. About 10 p.m. a command post was set up at the Merrt-Ax Restaurant &: Lounge on U.S. 34 west of Loveland: Watson, CSP Capt. William Thomas and Capt. John I Englebert, operations officer for the sheriff and other law enforcement otflclals directed the search and rescue operations from here t throughout Sunday moming until they moved to the Northern I Colorado Water Conservancy DIstrlctoffice (NCWCD). Between 10 and 11 p.m. people t beyond the immediate area began to \1eamthat80methtngwas wrong. GLENN GARCELON, the duty ottlcer of the Federal Disaster AssIstance Adml.n1straUon (FOAA) on call In Denver, heard there was a problem In the Big Thompson Olnyonon al0p.m. news show. About 30 minutes later, Bill Martin, the duty officer for the state Emergency Division of Disaster Emergency Services, received a call from Earl Denton, the LarImer Qlunty Cl.vt1 Defense director, who very briefly sketched out the situation and asked for National Guard assistance. Martin said he relayed th18 request to Cot. H. Yeargan of the NationalGuard. Later Denton called Martin to requiP.st helicopters from Fort Carson to use at dawn. 10:111 p.m.-Gene Greenwalt, owner of Ag Helicopters Inc. of Fort Collins received his first call from Denton, who said to stand by. About this time, the Loveland High School was opened as a refugee center. The first arrivals were those evacuated from their homes in front of the flood. They were greeted by the Fire Sirens, wives of local firemen, and representatives of the Ameriean Red Cross as well as sc:hool officials. The Salvation Anny would soon be busy at the command post. IN THE CANYON the water was moving at 21 teet per second, ac- cording to estimates of the Bureau 01 Reclamation. A "wallof water" was buDding as makeshlft dams, tem- porarily caught behind bridges and other obstructions, gave way, releasing repeated rushes of water. Eyewttnesses in the canyon reported that the "wall" was preceded by an eerie, walling moan. Boulders were bounced around like basketballs, vehicles were swept along In the cun-ent as if they were toys, and houses were torn from thetr foundations-or taken along with the foundaUons and the 8011 beneath them. Hundreds of propane tanks, ripped from trailers and homes, bobbed a1ong'ln the n.Jllhing water, hissing and spewing their contents Uke buzzbombs. There were repeated reports of Ughts waving frantically from the river and screams of help from the passing vehicles and homes. AT THE MOurn: of the canyon, the Bureau of Reclamation estimates that the 226,000 ton siphon collapsed about 10:4:1 p.m. when a floating bulldtng hH the southern support. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the water crested at 17 to 19 teet up the canyon wall with about 40,000 cubic feet per second at the mouth at 11 p.m. "BULLETIN FLASH F1.OOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SER- VICE DENVER l1PM MDT 31 JUL 1976 A FLASH F1.OOD WARNING IS IN EFFECt \..~YJA.lID't roR PERSONS NEAR THE BIG mOMPSQN RIVER FROM NEAR LOVELAND TO GREELEY OOLORAOO. A FLASH F1.OOD WARNING MEANS FLOODING IS IM- MINENT. TAKE NECESSARY PRECAtry10NS AS REQUIRED." Ms. Miller of the Loveland Police Department followed the wave of water down the canyon between 10:30 and 11 p.m. by the telephones that went dead In the water's path as she was calling to warn people. , As the water moved out onto the ptatns, she and two other dispat- chers, who were now on duty, began to notify resIdents Uvtng near irrigation ditches that were fed by the Big Thompson. At 11:21 p.m., her log notes that the gates to Lake Loveland were opened to receive some of the flood water. The Bureau ot Reclamation receIved a call from the shertft's office to shut off the water Into the siphon at l1:2!lp.m. IN ESTES PARK, the night was spent waiting and watching. RaInfall there totaled onIy about four Inches between 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, much lese than the 10 to 12 inches that fell tJve to eight mUes to the east. But the lightning show was the most awesome that anyone could remember. People crowded Into the municipal bullding as well as other publlc and private bulldings around the city. They knew something was happening, but 1'19 was sure exactly what. Long distance telephone service was out and the roads were closed. A sewer Itne was damaaed, causing raw sewage to flow Into the river - but lew people knew it then. The only hint people in the municipal building had of what was developing was local phone calls reporting a person drowned, people stranded and damage to vehicles and structures. There were also periodic radio messages from officers trapped In the canyon. As the word of the disaster spread, callers to the Estes pollee station began to offer assistance. Early in the momlng Estes Park High School was opened as a refugee center. The problem of knowing the extent of the situation also was bothering people in Denver. Martin had gone to Camp George West near Golden to monitor developments as they became known. The emergency staff of the camp also reported hourly to the FDAA duty officer after he called about 2:10a.m. Garcelon's call had been per- c1pitated by a call he received from a regular Army officer at Fort Carson, asking pennlsslon to send Anny heUcopters to Loveland. The okay meant possIble cost reim- bursement. 'I1lis was the FDAA officer's first call about the disaster and after conf1nn1ng it with Camp George, he contacted his boss, Donald G. Eddy, the regional FDAA adrn1nlstrator.' Garcelon approved the helicopter fllghts about 3 p.m. From midnight to dawn In Loveland, offictals divided their time between what rescue work they could accompliSh and planning thetr work after daylight. CAlLS POURED IN'ro Loveland and Fort Collins throughout the night about people stranded-on Islands, trees, rocks, housetops and ~'M:.na.'btrvt_W". The first body apparently was found between 2:30 and 3 a.m. near the Big Thompson School, but wasn't recovered unW later. The first heUcopter flights began about this time. Greenwalt said he arrived in Loveland by 2:30 a.m., about the same time as the helicopter from St. Anthony's Hospital. Greenwalt began flying 1m, mediately and continued, In in- termittent ra.In, to search the area between the Dam Store and wUson - FLOOD, P, 6, Col. 2