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<br /> <br />telling all in the area to be alert for <br />flooding. . . <br />But, in parts of the canyon, the wall of <br />water-which was to reach 19 feet high <br />in some portions of the narrow gorge- <br />was already doing its deadly thing. <br />One of those who realized the <br />potential and immediate danger was <br />Sheriff Bob Watson of Larimer County. <br />He had been watching the Olympics <br /> <br />from Montreal on television and making <br />plans with his wife for a trip to spend the <br />weekend at their cabin near Estes Park. <br />At 9:30 p.m., Watson's deputies and <br />state officers were in the canyon, <br />shouting warnings to campers and <br />residents of the canyon's mini.villages <br />to get out. <br />It was a warning too few heeded, <br />although as the torrents continued, <br /> <br />many did start trying to outrace, outrun <br />or outclimb the rapidly rising waters, <br />which sounded "like a. jet airplane," <br />according to John B. Hennessey, a <br />telephone company repairman from <br />Denver who had gone to the canyon to <br />fish. Hennessey, according to wire <br />service reports, and his wife made it <br />safely to a hill and saw a panorama of <br />disaster unfolding. . . <br /> <br />13 <br />