Laserfiche WebLink
<br />." <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />dam there were probably fewer than 50 people at risk. Downstream from Cascade <br />Dam, however, a few thousand people were at risk as a result of the failure <br />of lawn lake Dam and Cascade Dam. There were about 275 people camped in <br />Aspenglen Campground, located about 1/2 mile downstream from Cascade Dam <br />[32]. Downstream from Aspenglen Campground more than a thousand people were <br />at risk. They included residents and tourists located in cabins, trailers, <br />and houses located near the banks of Fall River, many more located in motel <br />units which are especially dense in Estes Park and in the first 2 miles <br />upstream from Estes Park, and people occupying restaurants and other busi- <br />nesses in Estes Park at the time of day the flooding occurred. <br /> <br />The Estes Park Chief of Police estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 people could <br />have been potential flood victims had the dissemination of warnings and the <br />subsequent evacuation not taken place [20]. . <br /> <br />Flooding Sequence <br /> <br />No one observed early stages of the failure of lawn lake Dam and therefore, <br />the exact time the dam failed is unknown. Campers reported failure was about <br />5:30 a.m. on July 15, 1982 [27]. Sunrise was at 5:38 a.m. on July 15 and the <br />weather was clear. Persons camped near Lawn lake [14, 18] reported hearing a <br />roar between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., indicating that the failure or partial <br />foilure may have occurred then. The only other information which would tend <br />to support a partial failure this early was that the flow at Cascade Dam was <br />slightly higher than usual at 7 a.m., before the main flow reached the dam <br />[1]. There were no other reports of higher than usual river stages preceding <br />the raPirl increases caused by the failure of lawn lake and Cascade lake <br />Dams. <br /> <br />Floodwaters reached Endovalley Road, near the mouth of the Roaring River, <br />at about 6:15 a.m. [16]; U.S. Highway No, 34 in Horseshoe Park at 6:34 a.m. <br />[28]; Cascade Dam at about 7:15 a.m. [1';' 12, 13], causing failure at <br />7:42 a.m. [26]; and downtown Estes Park shortly after 8:30 a.m. [22]. The <br />leading edge of the flooding traveled at a little more than 2 miles per <br />hour through Horseshoe Park and at slight'ly more than 4 miles per hour from <br />Cascade Dam to Estes Park. The peak flood discharge followed the initial <br />stage increase by less than 40 to 45 minutes at the mouth of the Roaring <br />River and at the U.S. Highway No. 34 bridge in Horseshoe Park [4, 16, 28]; <br />by about 25 minutes at the Aspenglen Campground access road, located about <br />1,800 feet downstream from Cascade lake Dam [28]; by exactly 18 minutes at <br />the 4 Seasons Inn, located slightly more than 1 mile upstream from downtown <br />Estes Park [21]; and by about 25 minutes at lake Estes [31]. Additional <br />data related to time of flooding resulting from the failures of lawn lake Dam <br />and Cascade lake Dam is included in table 1 and graphically summarized in <br />figure 2. <br /> <br />Motels, businesses, houses, mobile homes, and other structures located on the <br />Fall River flood plain were inundated with up to 5 feet of floodwater as a <br />result of the failure of the two dams. <br /> <br />2 <br />