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<br />5 <br /> <br />Two patrolmen were in the vicinity of Drake trying to keep traffic from <br />travelling up the canyon and to encourage people to c'limb to higher ground. <br />Though the focus of this paper is the action taken rather than a systematic <br />examination of the warning system, the following account of the types <br />of warnings issued prior to the flood may shed som'~ l'ight on the situation <br />prior to flood impact, <br />The Colorado State Patrol in Estes Park received word of traffic <br />tie-ups in the canyon around 7:30 PI~. This was not unusual for a weekend <br />evening in the canyon, The patrolman went to check out the probl em <br />7 1/2 miles down the canyon. He reporte'd on the radio that there were <br />trees, mud and rocks blocking U.S. Highway 34. Following an 8:45 PM <br />message of flooding from the patrolman near Estes Park, the Larimer County <br />Sheriff's Department and the State Patrol began intensive warnings of <br />campgrounds and motorists. At that time the patrolman advised that warnings <br />be issued down the canyon. At the 'lower end of th.~ canyon, where it <br />was not raining, it seemed hard to beliE,ve that a flood was possible. <br />Even some of the deputies who were responsible for warning others thought <br />the Olympus Dam near Estes Park must have broken in order to cause a <br />flash flood situation. (It held through the flood, though the base <br />suffered some erosion during the storm.) <br />Several miles up the canyon, just to the west of the Narrows, the <br />community of Cedar Cove sits below the ['oad and adjacent to the river. <br />This area received warnings from a sheriff's deputy, a highway patrolman <br />who later lost his life near Drake, a member of the Loveland police <br />department and a private citizen. <br />