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25 It may be raining and the canyon wall may not seem an 'inviting place to spend a night, but many of those who cl imbed the wan the night of July 31,1976, were only cold, bruised and wet the next morning. 2. Prior public education is necessary to lessen the potential losses from a flash flood. Signs should be placed at the ent.rances to canyons which clearly advise that in the event of a fl ash flood warning, heavy rains or high water, the most appropriate action to take is to abandon your car and climb to higher ground. Had Signs been placed in the Big Thompson prior to the flood, it is possible that the 16 people who were driving alone in the canyon wou'ld not have continued to drive on. Not knowing what to do in the event of a flood may have influenced their decision to take no adaptive action. Operators of motels, campgrounds and restaurants should be aware of safe places to whi ch thei l' customers can go in the event of a fl ash flood. For example, if the campground operators at the lower end of the Big Thompson Canyon had been aware of the flash flood hazard and of proper acti ons to take, perhaps the sheri ff' s deputi es woul d have had to ci rcl e the campground only once and could have relied upon the campground operators to evacuate the campground. Gatlinburg TennesseE~ has an extensive net- work whi ch 1 inks 3/4 of the motels in one phone ca 11 to potenti a 1 flood conditions. The sheriff's deputies could have spent their time disseminating the warning to more areas, concentrating their efforts in areas heavily populated by the elderly. Had the elderly residents in Big Thompson Canyon received more advice and aid, perhaps fewer would have died. 3. The tendency is for people to disregard messages which disrupt their normal activity (Drabek, 1977) rather than to pan'ic, as is frequently expected. By giving two, three or four' warnings, the chances increase for an appropriate response. When a warning is flashed on television and the