FLOOD05062 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. r. ~ Lamm,;,designa~esJuly 31'f' as 'Flood Awareness Day.','. .DENVER - Tile Stale of Colorado . remind local governments of the need' will focus on the tragic ~976 flOO?d in Big for flood-plain management. ' 1'bompson Canyon on, Its alUUversary The Conservation Board is working' July 31. . with several conununities on such pro- . Gov. Richard Lanun has proclaiIlled grams that "can minimize the . t\1at day "Flood Awareness Day" to dev~l;atingeffectsoffu~,urefloodingon "call attention to the lessons learned in the Citizens of our slate, Larry Lang of the Big Thompson Flood experience tile W~ter Board sai~. , that apply to many other areas in Col. In ~ proclamation whi<:/1 ~ the . orado," according to a release from the ~ood on,e of the most tragic disasters ' :. Colorado Water ConServation Board. lO,the history of the state," Lanun I ' . . J10UIts to the fact that the flood was a I The board !S hoping tha~ focusmgon "rare event in a relatively small area" , the~, ,whi~ took 139 lives and cost but thal.other major floods can be ex- , $35.51Il11lion 10 property damage, will ~!.o_~CI1!"Eithefuture, , .,._----.........; Can yon' rs's ia"e;nlsfim~prov'eJ !preparedness fo(disaster: , ' BIG THOMPSON CANYON (AP) - It ty emergency preparedness director John , was a Saturday night and there was a Hensley. "I.don't think a thunderstorm I1eavy rainstorm. Suddenly, a 2/Xoot-high could creep up on us like in did in '76." wall of water rocketed through the canyon Officials say the heavy rainstorm that ! and within a haIf-ilour at least 139 people spawned the Ilash flooding along the were dead and hundreds of buildillgs were twisting, 3G-mile canyon was an extraor- destroyed. . dinary,event. Up to 11 inches of rain fell It was so sudden that the National within a few hours near Es~ Park. which Weather service's first f1ash-flood warn- lies at the I1ead of the canyon and is the ing did not come untll90 minutes after the resort town at the base of Rocky Mountain fJood laid waste to Big Thompson Canyon. National Park. Tbat was five years ago todlly. Since TIle floodwaters roared down the canyon thenthenood has left Its mark, not only on about 9:30 p.m. July 31, 1976, knocking theIivesofthesurvivors,butonthetowo's, buildings out of' the way. The 'U.S. preparedness for disaster. Geological Survey said the water was so WbeJ1 the nood hit, many local officials 'powerfu1lt moved a boulder weighing 275 . were as l1Dpl'ep8red as the retirees and tons. ' tourists vacationing in the rock-rimmed The nood killed 139 people - five others : canyon. There wu a disaster plan on the disappeared - and destroyed 251 homes I' booIra, but it wu primarily in case of a and 16 businesses. It took four years and rwclear attack. ' ' more than $50 million for the canyon to 1 "A lot of COl1I1ty plans were gathering recover. dust on the shelf," said LeoDard Boulas. an Now there's a highway again, many of " operations officer with the Colorado Divi. the homes are rebuilt and some tourist . slon' . of Disaster Emergency Services. businesses have reopened. ' . , "That's where LarImer County was at the The destruction caused by the Big time. Their program was rea11ow-key and Thompson flood sent shockwaves into the bead of It really wasn't groomed for neighboring Boulder County. wllere there that kind of experience." are several populated canyons. including , By September, the county hopes to have one that opens directly onto the city of a new disaster-reaponse plan that devotes Boulder. Boulder officia1s have adopted a ample attention to flash f\oods. n now has widely praised warning system that in. Ils own full-time meteorologist. corporales river gauges, rainfall gauges "ForeW;irned is forearmed," said coun- and volunteer observers. -------------... - --------~._._~~--+----_.- . , '.. .'~ ',,~