FLOOD07982

• County: Larimer
• Stream Name: Big Thompson
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: The Big Thompson Flood
• Date: 7/31/1976
• Prepared For: Larimer County
• Prepared By: C.F. Boone Publisher
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

"We heard the water rushing by, but
we thought that was the way it was
. supposed to be," Dot Thizodeau was to
say later. Nobody told them to leave, so
they stayed and survived.
Among those who perished and
among those who also survived were
members of a group of Campus
Crusade for Christ, in the area on an
outing.
Marilyn Henderson was one of the
lucky ones. She was in a car with four
other women who sought to escape the
onrushing waters.
"The car rolled and rumbled. . .water
was coming in. . . When it reached neck
deep, I rolled down a window and
helped the others get out. . ." Two
ranchers aided in the rescue.
The list of victims included names
with hometowns such as Drake, Colo.,
Caldwell, Texas, Waverly, Iowa,
Hawaii, Kansas City, Mo., Catawba,
Ohio, McLean, Va., and Big Thompson
Canyon.

As the rescue efforts follwed in the
wake of the Saturday night-Sunday
morning disaster, men in cars, on.
horseback and in helicopters raced into
the canyon.
The winding U.S. Highway 34 was a
jumbled mass in places. . _ripped and
torn by water and stone, cut to ribbons
here and there, ending abruptly where
the river had cut a new channel. . .
Heavy fog and washed out bridges
and roads made rescue efforts difficult
and the body hunt tedious. . .
Some looting was reported, but for
the most part any entering of surviving
structures was mostly to borrow a bit of
food or clothing to wait out the ordeal
and rescue.
The scene which met rescuers' eyes
as the Sunday sun rose was one to rival
a combination tornado,,,,flood and
earthquake. . .
Cars were wrapped around trees,
shattered and shredded. . .Pieces of
cottages and summer homes lay tossed

Mud was everywhere. Workers above are
shown shoveling some of It from the post
office In Glen Haven.

like so much firewood. . .Bits of
clothing, cooking utensils. . _Knee-deep
mud tugged at the wheels of four-wheel
vehicles attempting to enter the
canyon. . .Once-green meadows were
covered with a brown stain. . .
Many of the victims were taken to
Loveland-a city whose postmark has
been made famous on Valentines Day.
The city's high school gym was
turned into a refugee center and a
hospital became a temporary morgue.
The entire 2,700 square miles that
make up Larimer County was declared
a disaster area by President Ford.
But even as a state mourned for its
native residents and its visitors caught
in one of nature's rampages, others
looked to the future, as is the case in

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