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Ironically, there was no rain in the lower end of the canyon. All the water came from upstream areas. This added an element of disbelief to warnings. At 9 p.m" the Loveland PDlice dispatcher received a message from the State Patrol requesting a warning from Drake down the canYDn. The dispatcher fDllowed the wave of water down the canyon by the tele- phone lines that went dead in the water's path as she was calling to warn people. Water swept boulders, trees, vehicles, houses, and foundations away and left the ruins strewn downstream. ShDrtly after warnings were given by the State Patrol, the flood passed through Drake and left devastation and death in its wake. Approximately 17.5 miles downstream from Estes Park, Cedar Cove was then engulfed and by 9:45 p.m., the flood hit the area west of Loveland, The floodwaters ran unchecked for nearly 5 hours. At 10:45 p.m., the Water and Power Resources Service's 227,000-pound siphDn at the mouth of the Narrows collapsed when a floating building hit the southern support. Within 4 hours or so, the worst of the rainfall wasove,r and the peak flow had reached the mouth of the canyon. In the Narrows area at the mouth of the canyon, it is estimated that, at peak flow, the velo- city of the water was on the order of 15 miles per hour. The frequency of the peak at the canyon mouth has been variously estimated at from 300 years to 750 years. (4) At the mouth of the Big Thompson canyon, the flow increased from the normal rate of 200 c.f,s, to about 31,200 c,f,s. Water levels in the canyon reached from 10 to 30 feet above nor- mal.(18) The rainfall covered a relatively small area. An estimated 70 square miles of the total 304 square mile drainage area at the canyon mouth contributed to the flood peak. Damage was severe, not only because of the great flow of water, but also because of debris. Even when flow did not wash away a building, it was severly damaged by flooding, by rDcks slamming into 24 . .