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<br />Five
<br />
<br />o
<br />
<br />
<br />1<<
<br />
<br />years '
<br />
<br />1~ ter,
<br />
<br />few
<br />
<br />traces
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<br />,
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<br />
<br />'J ,"
<br />;,
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<br />
<br />.j
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />om.son
<br />
<br />,
<br />.
<br />remam
<br />of ,the' ~errifying flood which
<br />sw~pt 'away more than 140 lives
<br />
<br />,
<br />
<br />. '"
<br />BY BETSY HOWARD" ','-'.',;1
<br />. # """.- '......l
<br />s~ UI Tbe Denver Post; ;";'" :;t,; ;31
<br />_I
<br />: '. ~.,' :.: ,. - " . 0, ..,'! /.": ",', ~;i
<br />, FIVE YEABS ago tIJls w. a'
<br />, 'terrifying w!lll 'of. water;
<br />, ..roared down a 25-mI1e C01o-:
<br />. .'. "radocanY1Jl1, leaving tho5e.
<br />, clinging' above the swollen banks of.
<br />lIIe Big Thompson River to unravel
<br />. wreckage . and.. pjece together .!bat.;
<br />tereddreams: .' " ':.' ,
<br />The .dazed survivors 'of the Big
<br />T'Ilpmpson f1oo\land the stunned Lar.
<br />r,. .., . imer County officials trying to help
<br />were confronted willi another frus-
<br />trating task -.. Wltangling , federal
<br />l'IIIes for reconstruclion ald.
<br />:"Those'h~ were overcome, and
<br />. uill task of'rebuildlng Is almoSt com,
<br />I!lilte: ,Few. traces remain of the fJood
<br />wJiicb swept. away the lives of more
<br />Oian 140 Iourlsts and canyon residents
<br />~~ts 1IlrbId,. boiling palll on the eve-.
<br />ni)lg of July 31;1976. \' ,..' . !
<br />: -But were another such tragedy to
<br />~ur Loday, itls doubUuI the recov"
<br />ett. would be as swift, and financial
<br />8is1 could be targeted for much differ-,
<br />lint purposes - relocating the survi.
<br />. ~ nol belpIng them rebuild. .,.
<br />':John Hensley, cIirec:1orof emergen:'
<br />c:{management for Larimer County,
<br />Explains why. He poinlsloa growlllg
<br />~bool of thought thot no aid might be
<br />lbll best aid.
<br />"IF YOU GIVE a'lot of relief to
<br />p4)ople iI1 a danger area, they tend 10
<br />stay, II usually pays 10 move them
<br />'out.1t .'
<br />. That attitude Is one counties may
<br />be forced 10 consider.
<br />jn 1916, the coWlty qualilied for 100
<br />it ~rcent federal aid after PresIdent
<br />Gerald Ford declared the canyon a
<br />diSaster area. '
<br />: :Today, Congress requires that co~'
<br />tles foot one-fourth of the relief bill,
<br />,1IJic1 in two years, that portion may be
<br />hlIted 10 50 percent, Hensley noles. '.
<br />: -Wltb a Larimer County budget dur-
<br />!lig the flood year of only '17 million,
<br />Uie final-' ~ million, bill for recon.
<br />Squction and relocal,illn would have
<br />lieen far out of reach. . .
<br />'~ve years aUer lIIe, tragedy, lIIe
<br />~es of five vlctiJns. still baven'~
<br />lieeit recovered. " " , .
<br />, : :In two years, when tho5e vlcUms of-
<br />fiCially are listed as,dead, lIleir names
<br />_._......-.... . H_" __. . . __ _. ... -,'_
<br />
<br />-,.' '". --" --. :- -.' ",>-.. ~---~._----'-",
<br />lwill 'bike 10 144 theoffidal deathtoU~
<br />
<br />~,tfJot:Z~~J~~~:'1
<br />! bours, the Oood batterelU5 Iniles of
<br />'highway beyond recoFtion, smashed
<br />132 bridges and ~ apart 70 bomes.
<br />! "WE WERE RIGHT square in lbe,
<br />I middle of It," recalls Paul GrUfilb, 81,
<br />Wbo now lives in Boulder" ".. ' I
<br />: "One thing, It sure made a Cbris1ian
<br />,out of, me. I was already, but you
<br />'know wbat 1 mean.' (The Oood) lifted
<br />,our home up and pushed it Ioward IIle
<br />river, and like a big hand, Jifled it up
<br />: and put it back where it belonged.
<br />, "'We were watching the games up.in
<br />Canada -the Olympic games. AU of a,
<br />isudden, an the eleclrlcity went off. 1
<br />'went 10 lIIe front door. My goodness, it
<br />: looked like Niagara F,alls in front of
<br />! the bouse and back - both.'" .. ,
<br />! . Damage wasn'1limited 10 the can-
<br />,yon, domir.al.ed by. U.s, M - the main
<br />! artery fortourlsls flocking from Love-
<br />.)and on the east, west 10 Estes Park
<br />'and Rocky Mountain National Park. .
<br />.. Angry waters alsll roared down lbe
<br />'north fork of lIIe Big T1uimpson. rip-
<br />: ping apart a county 'road,. sweeping
<br />r.....-.-... ..-----..-.----
<br />,away bomes and adding. 10 the death
<br />'loB. ' '",. ,,' ':>:'"
<br />\' ~ventually,;53 million in a1d- 99 ,
<br />I percent of It federal - was amassed .
<br />: 10 help relocate residents and rebuild.
<br />,Virtually all of the money bas been
<br />'.....nl. ' ' ,
<br />,~""
<br />. THE ONLY SIGJ'lS in the Big
<br />.Tbompson Canyon of a disaster on the
<br />evening of July 31, 1916, are captured '
<br />,in the scrapbooks ofresidellts wbo
<br />:survlved. . - .; \'1 .,-,~
<br />: For residents wbo had close calls
<br />. and didn't lose lIleir bomes, memories.
<br />. are colored with a pioneering adven-
<br />'ture of doing without electricity. and
<br />roads for weeks, I
<br />; For others, however, the memories
<br />are, much more painful.' Some lost all
<br />.their possessions: Olllers lost wives,
<br />.. busbands, children and relatives.
<br />Officials say mental beallb prob-
<br />lems for some survivors still linger in '
<br />'the fOnD of depression and alsll uncer"
<br />: tainty for those whose loved ones'
<br />:bodies still are missing. "You'lllalk 10
<br />ipeople wbo wil1 say" 'Gee, they've
<br />Inever found my mother,' "'emerge&
<br />~Y~,tor lIensley~, ___" ."
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<br />. . ........ '----l~' '~-,. - ' .'.
<br />.: But in appearan~,clbe,~YPll::ba$~
<br />.:bounced ~ck.. , .; ':-i,~ ;r~~!~,~*~~1.~~~~',~i'~
<br />, , MANY TOURlSTS,ARE: surprlsed,
<br />'10 hear. of the disasterlhat dominated(\
<br />,their bomelown newspapers 1or-\ijlVer-.;
<br />al days,inlbe sUllllllerof'l916.'Theg
<br />. twisted, ,shattered bomes lying at rak:,j
<br />isb angles were' hauled away long ago.~
<br />So were the dozens of aulomobiles'
<br />'perched on rockii and. hidden in rub-.
<br />: ble.' :_';. . '., .. ,.,,;;.."'....~, .--;, -,-f< >:_~
<br />: . other changeS aren't.uobvlOus.;
<br />: But they are more ,lmportaJ\t 'to the'
<br />people wbo chose, to retUl11 to the.
<br />.. beautiful canyon.' Slnce'the Oood wa,,!
<br />. \ers receded, changes have been
<br />,made 10 prevent anolber'Big Thomp-'
<br />son disaster. ' . .'...,",. ','," ., ,
<br />County offlctals almost lminedlate-
<br />Jy slapped a six-monlllmoralorium on.
<br />rebullding structures .which suffered'
<br />; more than 50 percent. damage. The
<br />, county then lniUatec! a study of lbe,
<br />: Ooodpla\n. Tbe study determined can-,
<br />'Yon areas that would be endangered:
<br />: by a Ooed of lIIe magnitude projected
<br />,to occur an .average'ofevery,loo.
<br />~'ye3rs. '.,' >- ,:' ,- :.:, :
<br />: But the disaster tmlthltJuly~1 had
<br />: the force ora 33G-year. fiood.;" ~, \ .,,;.",
<br />
<br />: When lIIe commissioners prohliiltecf
<br />most construction In the floodplain six:
<br />monlbs later, about 70 ,families wbosel
<br />homeswere'~',away weren't al-.
<br />lowed 10 rebuild on their bomesites. " .
<br />
<br />, 'EXCEPTIONS WERE MADE for
<br />at least three families whose homes
<br />were carried away by the waters but
<br />wbo-wanted to rebuild In the palll of a
<br />l00-yearOoodplaln..' . ",\.;:,;,',
<br />.. Thirty other bomeowners alSo were
<br />'allowed '10 .rebuild in the ,lOO-year
<br />Ooodplaln because their' hOmes had
<br />sustained less than 50 percent damage
<br />from the 33O-year Oood,' according to
<br />Rex Burns, senior planner In lbe Lar,
<br />,lmer County Planning and zoning de;
<br />partment.,_ _ :'~'; t.., ..,~ .;.~_!.,.. '-! ;.."i .
<br />, . OfficiaJs found umi. the'goVern
<br />ment's goal of prolecting life cIasbe<
<br />wllb emoUonal needs of survivors.
<br />. "It 'was a judgment caJl,,,. say,
<br />County. Commissioner Nona Thayer
<br />wbo won office six monlbs aller U.
<br />:Iisaster, She bad IIiIcome Involved ~
<br />pursuing aid long before, she, was lr
<br />ilalled. ) \ "'..1,. >-."
<br />, An Intense, soft-spokell,'" Petit
<br />:mmette, Thayer expJaJned, wby th
<br />~cepUons were made as she sat, j
<br />IIer sun-filled first-Door office' at Ul
<br />:ounty courtbouse In Fort Collins; jUi
<br />15 miles up Interstate 25:~ ,the,BI
<br />l'bom~n , ".,., ,,' ,,,' ;1 'j"''''''H
<br />.-.-...'w,.._........... -~_,._.-,,~#
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