Laserfiche WebLink
<br />A house trailer floated helplessly in <br />the torrent, finally hitting a bridge and <br />breaking up as a woman half way out of <br />an air vent screamed for help. . . <br />Kenneth F. Englade, a veteran United <br />Press newsman who has seen tragedy <br />from the U.S. to Vietnam, later was to <br />record the reaction of some of those in <br />the area at the time. . . <br />As the river rolled through the <br />"chute" of rocks and trees, spreading <br />here, squeezed and then exploding <br />. there, it made a noise like a thousand <br />demons. <br />As the angry water thrashed like <br />some foaming serpent, it hurled rocks <br />and boulders from wall to wall like claps <br />of thunder, bouncing them off other <br />rocks which had weathered the ages of <br />time-sub. zero cold and snow, wind, <br />rain and sand. <br />Mixed in nature's debris was the <br />flotsam of humanity-wrecked <br />cottages, here and there a tumbling car, <br />bedding, tents and an ocasional body. <br />One of the first to perish, even as he <br />was attempting to warn others, was Sgt. <br />Hugh Purdy, 53, of the Colorado State <br />Patrol. Purdy was a 25-year veteran of <br />State Patrol. Colorado Gov. Richard <br />Lamm attended his funeral in Denver. <br />The Associated Press quoted Purdy's <br />widow as saying "He did what he had to <br />do. . .He did what he wanted to do." <br />Another was a man who reportedly <br />lost his life when he went back to save <br />some farm animals. An onlooker was <br />quoted as saying: "He was washed up <br />against a tree, hung on for what seemed <br />an eternity, then was swept on. <br />Bystanders on higher ground watched <br />helplessly. . ." <br />Four of the luckier ones were Mr. and <br />Mrs. Nicrest and their children from <br />Crowley, La. They had made their first <br />trip to the scenic canyon and by a <br />stroke of luck had parked their van on a <br />slight knoll just inside the canyon. <br />, <br /> <br /> <br />A Glen Haven lire truck toppled helplessly <br />Into the swollen northern lork 01 the Big <br />Thompson. Gov. Richard lamm said <br />reconstructing U.S. Highway through the <br />canyon would cost at least $10 million. <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />