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<br />Greeley Tribune Online <br />; ~ ...... <br /> <br />Page 3 of4 <br /> <br />homes and farms. When it was over, 12 people had <br />died and damage was set at $102 million <br /> <br />1973 - Not all floods in Weld County history were <br />caused by melting mountain snow or sudden rain <br />storms. In April, 1973, the 80,year,old Latham <br />Reservoir east of La Salle broke out of its dam and <br />flooded thousands of acres of farm land. It was a <br />slow-moving flood, and by that afternoon, it had <br />traveled north to the U.S. 34, then east into Kersey. <br />The town of Kersey was evacuated as the low wall <br />of water crawled nonstop through the town, washing <br />out roads and flooding basements. By the time the <br />c1ean,up was finished, the Latham Dam Break <br />caused more than $1 million in damage. <br /> <br />1976, The worst flood ever to hit Colorado in terms <br />of lives lost also came at the worst possible time: <br />Aug. 1, 1976, a holiday celebrating Colorado's 100th <br />anniversary. It came on a weekend, and hundreds of <br />people were camping in the mountains between <br />Loveland and Estes Park. A "1 OO'year storm" hit the <br />Estes Park area in the evening, dropping as much <br />as eight inches of rain in two hours. The Big <br />Thompson River quickly swelled to 18 feet over flood <br />stage and plowed down the Big Thompson Canon, <br />destroying camp sites, trailer courts and dozens of <br />mountain cabins. When it was over, more than 140 <br />people died. In Weld County, the flood hit the <br />bridges and low-lying farms early the next morning, <br />causing millions of dollars in damage. <br /> <br />1983 - It was one of the strangest years for weather <br />that Weld County had experienced, according to <br />Shwayder. A mild winter, and heavy snows in April <br />and May ended with a record,breaking heat wave in <br />August. But in late May and June, the mountain <br />stream runoff caused many problems for Weld <br />County. The winter brought several heavy snows to <br />the mountains, and when the early summer weather <br />became unusually hot, the rivers began to rise. <br /> <br />Shwayder: "In Weld County almost every small <br />stream ran full ... the conversion of the Big <br />Thompson, South Platte and Poudre rivers in the <br />Greeley,Evans-La Salle area reminded old settlers <br />why the flood plains were there and how they were <br />created." Homes and businesses had been built on <br />the flood plain areas and now were being hit by the <br />flood waters. <br /> <br />http://www.greeleytrib.com/articie. php?sid=244I <br /> <br />01103/2002 <br /> <br />-----~'~-------~ ----~-- <br /> <br />-- <br />