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I I LONGMONT TIMES - CALL Longmont, Colorado LONGMONT TIMES CALL LONGMONT TIMES 6 CALL Longmont, Colorado 'Longmont, Colorado August 4, 1951 l-1onday June 23,. 1941 I Monday, June 6, 1949 I BOY SCOUTS AND CCC YOUTHS JOIN CHECK OF ST. VR~IN 35 RESCUED AS ST. VRAIN GOES ON RAMPAGE HERE BRIDGES OUT WEST OF CITY: SOUTH ST, VRAIN IS BLOCKED I MISSING LONGMONT WALLET FOUND NEAR MAN'S CABIN ALL BRIDGES B~qEEN LONGMOMT AND LYONS MADE IMPASSABLE BY WEEK END FLOODS-HOMES, HIGHWAYS AND FIELDS INUNDATED-RIVER CLIMBS TO 6,700 SECOND FEET-WATER LINE DAMAGED AND TRAINS DELAYED. A spring flood, which caused the St. Vrain river to burst its banks made all bridges between here and Lyons useless, delayed trains, inundated highways. fields and houses and necessitated t~e evacuation of 35 men, women, and children struck here vith force late Saturday night and early Sunday: The river h~d reaG:hed flood stage again !1onday afternoon. Ae a result of week end heavy rains in this district and in the mountains, the St. Vrain w~nt on a rampage Saturday night after rising slowly... Water Rolls Across Last Night--Motorists Jammed Here--Railroad tie Southwest of city and Near Washed Out--Many Houses Pavement South of Town Stranded--Hotels Tracks and Tres- Lyons Are Isolated I North and South St. Vrain Canons Hard Hit by Cloudbursts Early Sunday - Three Homes Swept Away - Houses a~ Lyons Flooded - Farm Land Inundated - Warning Spread H~re But R1ver Controlled - St. Vrain Reaches 8,900 Second Feet Flow - r~ountain Roads Damaqed by Washouts - Bridges Destroyed. Flood debris late Monday had failed to yield the body of Keith Houx, 36, proprietor of a Lon~ont auto paint shop who was swept to his death near his cabin in the South St. Vrain canon by a cloudburst early. Sunday. Roaring out of darkness split by almost continuous lightn1ng and thunder thousands of tons of water swept down the North and South St. V;ain canons early Sunday ~orning causing the flood which also took three homes away, damaged roads,.flooded a half dozen houses in Lyons, wrecked bridges and 1nundated farm lands. Monday some 30 CCC enrollees, directed by Sh~riff Geor?e Richart, and Longmont Boy Scouts supervised by Ch1ef of Po11ce Orval Barr, combed the St. Vrain river fro~ Longment to the Boux cabin four miles up the South St. Vra1n, for the man who died that his family might live. Sometime after midnight Saturday and 2:00 a. m. Sunday, a wall of water engulfed the Houx cabin near the stream which had turned into a ranging torrent. Houx jumped out of bed and carried his three children Anna ~~c, 7, Kenneth, 12, and Harold, 10, to higher ground and sagety. He then returned for his wife, Lois, and after getting her out of the cabin was swept away by the current.. . Flash floods roaring down from the mountains swelled every river and creek in the Longmont district last niqht and drove Dry creek, which crosses Highway 87 a mile and a half south of Longmont, into a raging torrent. Water in the usually dry creek bed burst its banks, swept away crops and livestock, drove about 50 people from their homes, and stranded others for hours as prisoners within their houses. I I River,Up to 6,700 Second Feet A total of, almost three inches of rain fell here during the storm, According to records at the experimental station of the sugar company. During the high point Saturday night the St. ~ra~n was flowing SOMe 6,700 second feet of water. COMm1SS10ner Cal Haier reported. Flood sta~e is from 2,000 to 2,500 feet when the river starts leaving its banks. In summer flash floods, previously, as high as 10,000 second feet has been measured. and and Traffic, telephone. light and water services were disrupted property damage, as yet undetermined, resulted. Railroad track. a trestle southwest of town and near Lyons were also washed out... I st. vrain Canon Blocked Homes Flooded ElectriC-Department Busy Frank t1orqan, superintendent of the city electric department, announced that his crew was at work early Sunday morning and at times throu~hout the day, as well as Monday morning, replacing and resetting poles which were loosened or destroyed by the washout, mainly in the canyons. County road crews cautioned motorists that all bridges to Lyons are impassable. Arterial highway bridges were still intact, but were under constant surveillance by road workers... The South st. Vrain canon was made impassable by the violence of the swirling flood, which ripped out entire sections of the roadway. Rain washed boulders onto the road in many places. some of them as large as an automobile. ROad crews were using dynamite on these this morning, but no estimate was made as to when the highway would be open to traffic. I I Very little actual damage was done to the North st. vrain highway. The oil surface held up. but was covered with mud and small rocks in places. Some shoulders on the highway were reported to be soft. I In Lyons a half dozen homes had first floors flooded, and the swinging bridge in town was destroyed. At ~eadow Park a number of picnic tables and other moveable objects were carried away. Washouts occurred on the North St. vrain highway fro~ Roosevelt forest to Lyons. In the South St. vrain canon the storm area extended from the Big Narrows to Lyons. A wooden bridge 11 miles above Lyons was destroY7d The raod was badly washed and will not be open for traff1c for several days... Bddges Out State PatroLman F. I. Hinnegan reported at 6:45 p. m. that the North st. Vrain route was paSSable, but hazardous. Volunteers answered a request for help in removing merchandise from basement rooms of Lyons stores, and were able to move perish- able items to safety befOre the flood took over. According to O. J. Ramey, the water in the Lyons business district came only from the immediate hills which rim the town anL was not very serious. I The ftold iron bridge,. east of Lyons and just below the Longmont filtration plant at the Ruski place, finally succumbed to flood water. ~his bridge had withstood many floods over the years, but always remained firm until Sunday morning when it gave way in the middle. Crest of the flood was re~orted reached at 9:51 p.m... I tlallet Found For several hours uprooted trees, logs and bedris of all kinds pounded against the bridge which was unable to with- stand the strain... I During the search for the body of Keith Houx, three Lyons men, Art Cunningham, Merle Keoan, and Walt Ha~ington found a wallet owned by Houx containing $60. The wallet was found about a mile below the Houx cabin site. The cabin, however, was completely destroyed,.. South St. Vrain Road Closed I River 8,900 Second Feet South St. Vrain canyon road was closed as a precautionary measure, O. J. Ramey of Lyons said shortly before noon today. Harry Lowe, county road employee, who has been workinq the canyon for many years, notified T. G. Stern at Raymond's resort to barricade the road there and turn traffic back to the North St. vrain road from Estes Park. I L. T. Burgess, chief hydrographer from the state engineer's office, and J.E. Whitter, division engineer for the Platte area, took slope measure~ents and found that at the peak of the flood the depth was 8.07 f~et compared with a norn'al of 3.26. At 2:15 a.m. Sunday and for two hours the St. Vrain was measured at a,900 seccnd feet. Today it measured 595 second feet average. The average for sunday was 2,000 second feet. The river rose to 8,900 second feet in 30 minutes. The high~st ever registered previously was 9,600 secQr.d feet, Commissioner Maier said. The date of this record rise was not available. The river on many of the sharp canyon turns frequently undercuts the roadbed, creating a hazard which would not be visible to the motorist. Falling rocks from the embankment above ~he road also were deemed hazardous, althouth the road is not visably closed, P~mey said. I I During the flood tons of silt, sand and rocks were cnrrl",d rlO't!n both the north and South St. vrains as well as poles, lumber amJ trees. Traffic from Estes Park and AlIens Park, through the North St. Vrain c~nyon, was normal, the Lyons man said. The nurlinqton railroad tra~k to Lyons was rendered usoless when the St. Vrain spilled over itg bank~ and washed away tho railroad bed in the section east of Lyon.... ,\U.houqh dcbriH W<lS beinq ['emov('d by t.he use ot horses tod?li' , ~/';lrcherH h.ld 1I0t round one:! thing to indicate the Wllflr(!,,j)("Juts of Keith lIoux', body.