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<br />6 <br /> <br />Ten people were at the Covered Wagon Cafe just one mile west of <br />Cedar Cove. The customers finished their meal and started up the canyon. <br />When rockslides prevented their passage through to Drake they returned <br />to the restaurant. One waitress had been sent home early because the <br />bridge leading to her home across the river was notoriously low. The <br />proprietor thought it wise for her to get home before the water rose <br />too high. The people in the restaurant did not receive an official <br />warning, but the water was rising in front of the restaurant. Every- <br />one moved to the proprietor's house adjacent to the restaurant. When <br />the waitress who left early reached her home, she called the restaurant <br />to tell them she was safe. While she was on the phone, the proprietor's <br />home and restaurant were washed away. All who were in the home were <br />swept to their deaths, <br />At the Canyon Inn near Cedar Cove approximately 20 people,including <br />employees and guests, were conversing about how slow business was that <br />night. No one had an explanation for this until reports were received <br />that landslides and rockslides had occurred west of the restaurant. At <br />approximately 8:30 PM, a sheriff's deputy came into the restaurant to <br />warn people of rising water and possible flooding. He instructed them to <br />cross the river and climb up the mountainside. The people took no action <br />in response to this warning. Twenty minutes later he returned with the <br />message that the dam at Estes Park had broken and the people in the <br />restaurant should cross the river and climb immediately. People did <br />respond to this second warning, Some drove out of the canyon, and others <br />climbed as instructed. The water was three and one half feet deep in <br />the restaurant soon after the warning, Some perceived no danger from <br />a flash flood warning yet responded quickly to the message that the <br />