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The body of a flood victim Is recovered from an overturned vehicle In Big Thompson Canyon. warnings and got out of the canyon in time. Others were not so fortunate. As the death toll mounted this week, it quickly became ob- vious that many were unable to find safety as the flood con- sumed everything that came before it. The Big Thompson River, normally running at two to three feet, crested at ap- proximately t5 feet in the black, dismal early morning hours of Sunday. Aug. 1. Still it continued onward, bloated by drainage from the steep canyon walls. +++ To the north a similar tale of death and destruction was being played out along the west creek of the North Fork of the Big Thompson River. The VICIOUS Saturday night downpour filled gullies in the Devil's Gulch area and spilled over inlo the canyon toward Glen Haven and Drake. The switchbacks along Devil's Gulch Road were sliced by the cascading water as it followed the steep descent of the road. West Creek overran its banks and, as in the Big Thompson Canyon, carried homes from their foundations, ripped bridges from abutments and hurtled forward without regard for life or property. Passing through the center of Glen Haven, the flood was relatively limited in its destruction except for those homes which were situ~ted directly along the river. Because of the terrain of the area, some homes along the streambed were totally destroyed by the river's onrush while otbers, only 20 yards beyond along the side of a hill, were untouched, The real conccrn in the Glen Haven area, still an unknown, is the status of lives and property to the east of the town toward Drake. Onlookers fear the worst. In this area the road and river followed a parallel course in a narrowing gorge populated by numerous cabins. After the flood, only the river remained. Rescue efforts Monday necessi ta led the use of technical climbing groups who moved eastward along higher elevations because the lower route was impassible. Late Saturday night, the stretch between the two small communities was hit by a massive deluge. It was at Drake that the flooding North Fork met the main branch of the flooding Big Thompson River. Although information con- cerning Drake remains sketchy because of communications breakdowns. it is believed that much of the town was leveled. The post office and a store are among the few buildings reportedly still standing. As the tremendous wall of water moved eastward from Drake, the force became in- credible. Entering the Narrows, the sheer rock canyon beyond Drake, the floodwaters gained greater height and speed resulting from the venturi ef- fect of the closely spaced walls. The river is believed to have crested at 30 feet in its passage through the Narrows. Two Loveland ambulance 5