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<br />I,.
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<br />"Leroy Grabam lost his wife.
<br />:Iaughter-In-Iaw and two grandchll-
<br />:lren, Slill, he wanted to live there,"
<br />she said. "It's not a very rational situ,:
<br />ation, but it would take a calloUs per-
<br />son to throw someone like that out." ,
<br />THE REQUESTS for exempUorul
<br />were reviewed by the county's ~100d
<br />Review Board, made up of profession-
<br />al engineers, Thayer said. She noted
<br />that the board required homeowners
<br />to agree to elevate structures and do
<br />additional flood-proofmg.
<br />Next, -the county used $1,6 mllllon
<br />rrom state. regional and federal agen-
<br />cies to buy parcels of land from 94
<br />;ll"O~y o~rs who weren't ~\V.ed.
<br />to rebuild Dr who owned undev~
<br />land In the fkvvlplain . ",
<br />The Small Business AdmJDlslration
<br />also provided' 300 loaIls to fulJ"Ume
<br />canyon 'residents to help rebuild
<br />homes and businesses In the canyon
<br />but outside the floodpJaln.
<br />The federal money didn't come
<br />without a llgbL At first the request
<br />was denied, but after pressure from
<br />the Colorado congressIOnal de.:
<br />tIon, most of the money lIOugbt was
<br />delivered - 17 monlbs after the'dJsas.;
<br />ter - a delay that angered Thay!ll'. ' ,
<br />, ''The biggest, most lnbUJl'lAn thing
<br />was the deJays," she said. "It was a'
<br />long time before we' cni.ld. move
<br />ahead" to bliy the Jand..'. ,."". :
<br />"Maybe the flood vlellms .'didn't'
<br />,think,l was as comF-ate as 1,
<br />should have been," Thayer said. "But:
<br />we wouldn't have gotleIIthe land 'aco,
<br />qulsition money without the tGO-year
<br />fioodplalD and other regul31lQno ..
<br />; PLANNER BURNS f,STWATES'
<br />,the COUDty owns ODly 80 percent:of:the'
<br />,fJoo<l.prone but otherwise lwiJdahl'l
<br />property. TIle rest, with the exception
<br />,of a few parcels of state !aDd, ~ '
<br />,In private hands - tho8e of IIcm1eowII-
<br />,erB aJJowed to rebulld In the:fiOod.
<br />'plain. ' , ~
<br />, "Most of the piopertles that ~
<br />flood-prone were washed away...' be
<br />.saldquieUy.' ,
<br />; The two-lane federal bJihway
<br />caJled U .S, 34 wbleb hllgS the c;iDyOII
<br />. waDs as it curves its way from: LoVe-
<br />: land to Estes Park cost $215 mlDlon In
<br />federal money to rebllild. ,<:> ,
<br />, Another ~ the ",ag/'lhuIA'oNhll '
<br />.1976 tragedy could wreck at leaSt Part' ,
<br />of the, expensive 'new ,blgbway. '
<br />concedes Dwigbt Bower. District 4 en- '
<br />,gineer for the CoJorado~:
<br />.of Highways. , .." '"
<br />Roads within the canyon were I'll-.:
<br />built only to wilhotand the force o(,a
<br />lOG-year fJood, not a 336-year flood '
<br />such as the 1976 blgh water. ' ' "
<br />If It (the flood) is lamer than a
<br />).year fJood, say a 2Ol).year fJood,
<br />,u could ~ portions of the blgh-
<br />1Y," Bower Saki "V ou can bave two
<br />ll'year fJoods one after another." he
<br />bnllted, I?ut suggested the odds are,
<br />rerwMJmlngly against such back-to-
<br />1ck dlsaSlerS- '
<br />TO 'FLOOD-PROOF the road,
<br />4wer said. the blghway was rebuilt
<br />t a sIml1ar grade, but the entire
<br />lngth was raised above the level of a
<br />Ol).year flood. "
<br />Boulders as Jarge as office desks
<br />were placed In long piles along the
<br />l\ri!am bank to prevent water from
<br />Nasblng out dirt UIIder the road.
<br />Nhere water veJoclty was blgh, con"
<br />:rete and boulder retalnlDg waDs -
<br />:aUed riprap - protect the road bed.
<br />The sterile. pinlt"Unled riprap
<br />stands out most in the Narrows - a
<br />twisllng section of the road bemuied
<br />In b~ sheer darIt-grey cUffs at the
<br />mouth of the canyon. That section was
<br />one of the most COlllly to repair.
<br />
<br />re
<br />
<br />it
<br />
<br />An advisory commission appointed
<br />br Gov, Dick Lamm unanimously de-
<br />CIded after l!te flood to rebuild U .S, 34
<br />after studymg alternate routes to.
<br />Estes Park and Rocky Mountain Na-
<br />tional Park from Interstate 25.
<br />
<br />The commission, of which Bower
<br />was a member. studied diverting !raf"
<br />fic to U .S, 36 out of Longmont but dJs. '
<br />covered that road didn't have the ca-
<br />pacity tobandle a double load. On a
<br />LypicaJ swnmer weekend, tllat route
<br />and U.S. 34 each handles as many as
<br />tO,OOO cars in a single day.
<br />"THE COMMISSION also considered'
<br />
<br />blasting a new highwaY:- through the
<br />: mountains before settling on rebuild-
<br />ing. .
<br />i' On April 31, 1980, another flood
<br />Ithreatened the Big Thompson canyon
<br />as the rive\- rose eight feel More than
<br />~20 residents were evacuated from the
<br />canyon, but other than shaken nerves, ,
<br />damage was minimaL '
<br />Because people still live along flood"
<br />prone canyons in LaIimer and other
<br />counties, some concern exists as to
<br />how prepared J,arlmer and otbel'
<br />Colorado counties would.be in case of
<br />future fJoods.
<br />Hensley, director of emergency
<br />management for LaIimer County, is
<br />relo'POnsible for seeing that aid is pr0-
<br />vided. But emergency management'
<br />efforts have been hampered by budget
<br />cuts and a lack ,of coordination, he
<br />says,
<br />. "PreI(3redness has fallen through
<br />the cracks," he said during a lunch
<br />break while attending 'a natural baz"
<br />'ards workshop at the Hilton Harvest
<br />,House in Boulder last week.
<br />At the time of the '76 flood LaIimer'
<br />bad no disaster plan, H~y points
<br />ouL "No one knew what 'their respon-
<br />sibilities were." ,.
<br />For the two years he has been ell"
<br />rector. Hensley has been forging sueb
<br />a program. He works with different
<br />governments - county, state and city
<br />- to design a disaster aid scenerlo for
<br />all agencies to1ollow.
<br />No laws require that eaeb govern-
<br />mental entity participate; however.
<br />"You don'tteU people wbat to do," he
<br />says, Instead, Hensley is trying to ere>
<br />ate cooperation. " :
<br />
<br />"'..,~?"."w~'~i'r;0:"':'7il.~n";r!%1~;1!Ri~~;it~~~
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