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The Big Thompson Flood: A NightlJ1al'e of Destl'uction and Death BY TIM ASBURY The Estes Park Trail-Gazette lt came without warning. The waters of torrential rains in Estes Park area gathered momentum in gullies and ravines before combining in a tidal wave, sweeping forcefully down the Big Thompson Canyon and resulting in the worst disaster the community or the state has ever known. A total of 90 are known dead, scores are injured and COllOM !less persons are missing or homeless as local residents and volunteers begin massive cleanup efforts from Saturday's flash flood. The search for bodies will go on for weeks. The devastation is incredible. Flooding was not limited to the Big Thompson Canyon, however, as Glen Haven also sustained the effects of the swollen North Fork of the Big Thompson. The community was isolated until late Sunday evening when evacuation helicopters com- pleted the removal of those moot seriously affected by the weekend disaster. . Water gushed from'the'hills Saturday night and early Sunday morning, engulfing the entire business area, moving homes off foundations tossing cars as if they were mat- chsticks and taking its fatal toll. But the real destruction was in the Big Thompson Canyon where the waters swelled with incalculable force as they traveled the 30-mile length of the mountainous channel. One estimate placed the amount of water passing through the canyon during the night at five million tons pushin~..,~itl1 ~assive force. In its"w.ake.....was a gruesome path of death and destruction. Property damage is in the millions of dollars,) most of Highway 34 is gone and Gov. Richard Lamm joined with Sen. Gary Hart in requesting emergency federal assistance from President Ford. On Monday, the President declared the region a national disaster area. The loss of property is staggering, but the real loss- that which can't be restored-is the lives of those who died in the raging waters. ++++ The rains started in the Estes 3