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~ - - 16 Fort Collins Coloradoan August 1976 ,\, , .~~.. ~ ... ~, ~ ~ "'- l '... - '~~~-' '~'''''''"' ~ .~~t:t'.,--~ ~J;~:~j'I'-~' ~ - .~~"~. ~'''''''~''';'' '.+i ,,:'jt:~~' ~ __ ~';'~' ..... .,,;.. ~~ ~ .~:~~~. q.,.~ ~""~'~' - . .:, ~ .~ , ....... .. ".,', -~. ~,.. "" ~' -""'" ,~ ~ ---" .",....~~, ~ r...~ ;~~~~~~./ .~y: ,~. .~ ~_ '''' -A . .... ?i_~ ;~ .. .,. ~:~L- _' _ ~ _ -:.,.~:~'~ -'~ These two photos show some of the damage in Rist Canyon -- -- - . ~ - -- ~- -,-........ . -....'11 _ 'r:; .~ ......r'4'; .J - - - &'- ~... 'P'- ',;" ..,.. '. - " ~ . "', ,~, -;0.,.. 'Ii. ,-;",(~~,>'. ,." ,'~ _':!::: ~';~,: '," c' , " . .w"', . . -:.-__ ....~~-r:,;:.." ' j; L_~:'\,"--'1:,:~',;;':i,,' ., ,- ,,_.",' .,'t,' ''-<t~-_::'_! ,~,~" '4f", ~\.,...\: :'~.- .~ ~ ~ --(- ,....... '..;"--~ .~~. . F" ~I~ ,.~~ ,": l.~ T ..>~ I "14 The 'other' canyons also hit by flooding private access roads, buildings and several cars. Road crews constructed pioneer roads tor temporary use, and plans were made to gravel these, as well as widen them, so that school buses would be able to travel the routes by the time school resumed the last week in August. While the Big Thompson River was rampaging down the canyon July 31 and Aug. 1, other areas were getting heavy rain as well, though /lOt nearly as muctl. Yet, there was damage. . In both Rlst and Poudre canyons, streams overflowed and roads and some property were hit. ~ w tonnpd rlyers that washed down from the clitts. The Poudre Canyon road (High. way 14) had only mJnor damage, and was quickly cleared of debrls. There were several rockslldes that covered or partially covered the road, but damage to Ute highway Itself was mlnlmaL At least one house was washed away in the Poudre, as were several private brldges: some private ac. cess roads also were damaged . The area affected in the Poudre Canyon was a stretch of about 10 miles. Both Rist arid Poudre canyons are northwest of Fort Collins, and the site of dozens of private residences. The Rtst Canyon Creek, which runs alongside the road, normally is not much more than a lrtckle. In Rist Canyon, which winds from Bellvue to Stove Prairie, a four'lOUe strdch of road was wiped out, with the damage at its worst between Dam Lane 8lld the mouth of the ...yon. There also was damage to some In Poudre Canyon, Ute much larger Poudre River actually caused comparatively little damage; more damage was caused by newly The story of the Coloradoan's flood By JERRY SHARPNACK Coloradoan Managing Editor A newspaper staff, like any other organlutlon, needll to do llome planning for what lIell ahead. UnUke other organ1ZaUona, however, It haI some bunt-in llmlta. How, for Inetance, do you "plan" tor a North- ern Aotel ftre that took a Hte? The trouble with d18aaters Ie that nobody ever tells you when they are going to happen. How do you plan tor a MlO-year nood that lluddenly l'OlU'8 down a canyon in your own back yard? You don't, Th1e Ia on. the-job training, but If you have a g~, alert staff, and good guidance all the lltory develope, things fall into place. Not everythlng, but m08t. Thill 18 how the Coloradoan covered the Big Thompson flood 8.1 It developed. SATURDAY. JULY lI1 9p.m.: The.usualskeleton crew was on duty,in th18 case Managing Editor Jerry Sharpnack, Au!etant New. Editor Ron Nonyukl. Sporta Editor Mike Chapman, Reporter Stephanie Brown and, in and out, Photographer Joe Novotny. Things were falling into place quite well. Our ma1n story for sunday's paper Wa.J a natural - the con. troversial athletic director at Colorado State University had resigned. We had had the etory tn plenty of Ume, and gotten IlOme quotes from CSU President A. R. Chamberlain to lltrengthen It. It wall a three-column story, wIth a mug shot, upper rlght on Page 1. The page alllO earned, upper len, a Colorado Day editorial extoll1ng the vlrtUee of the lltate in general and Fort Collins tn particular, The llporta edItor, on a mIdnight deadllne, was moving his stories along unhurriedly, Reporter Brown W8.11 f1niBhed with the. pollee beat and her stories were in. Nothing much Wall going on. Except the pollee mon1tor. The lltaff normally keeps half an ear on the mon1tor (radio) through the day. But about 9 p.m.. It became three-quarters of an ear. The tone changed; there was a llense of urgency on the sherltf'll frequency. 9:30,10 p.m.: Something Was going on. DepuUell were talking about "warning people up the canyon." Which canyon? Poudre? Big ThompllOn? It obviously was a gully.washer of a ralnBtorm. Unusual for that area, but not critical, surely. Canyon flooding over the years haI been rare and not overly exclllng. Northem Colorado, atter all, Ie bulcally a high pla.1n8 desert. A story on high water in the Loveland area eeeme.d tn order. A "hold" wall put on Page 1: the sport.ll editor was told to push through his rema1n1ng pagell to the production department early. We wanted everything out and done except for Page 1. The neWll deadline was 10 p.m. It would be broken. 10:30-11 p.m.: There obviously WIUl big trouble In Big Thompson. Deputies were talking over theIr radios about having e~n eomeone floating down the nver. Reporter Brown had instinctively gone to the Sherltf's Office, but llhe Wa.J not learn1ng anything more there than we were hearing on the mon1tor. She was told to come in, make llome phone call. to people In poudre Canyon, which at that time al80 appeared to be in bad shape. But Ute people tn Poudre whom we could reach didn't know what WILl happening, except that It was "ra1n1ng like hell" and "too dark to see anything." 11-11:30 p.m.: Photographer Novotny WILl told to get out fallt to the clOl!lest place something was going on, and get back fast so we could have a phOto. That turned out to be Ted's Place, the entrance to Poudre Canyon, where a roadblock had been set up. . ~ ./r- "'." .~ '.-"'''' ~ . '. . -'" .. .... . - -~, .- -- .,. .. ... . .v . coverage .' .:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;::::::::;::::::::::::::::::::::::<:::::>;::.;::::::::::::::::.;.:.:.:::':::':';:;:;'::;';::::':':::::r::::::~:';';'::;':':'::::::::;::::::::::,::;::,::::::::::;::-;.;::.;,:::.:,:::::':::';::::-:::':::';';';';';';';';';';':':';':', I ~.~ II \, Jerry B1ll Ron stephanie Kat:hertne Jake Matt ..~~........~~.........~~.~.....u..~~........(~~......~w Novotny. Jacobs ..:.:...:.:.:,:...:.:.......:............,....:...............:.:.........:.'...:.:...:.:.:.:...:.......:...:.:...:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.}:<.:.~:':.:.:':.:':.:':':.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:;,;::::.:.::;,::;,:.;.:::.;.;.;.;.:.;.:.:.:.:.:.:.;::.;:;:;::,:.:.;.:.:.:.:::::::-: r:' ~~..." t/ ( ~ . People in the production department, where the pages of Sunday'. paper were being put together, earlIer had been told to remove an AP story below the athletic director story, and to move the latter down further on Page 1. We were planning, without having seen It, a four-column picture at the top of the page. MIdnight (tlnal deadline): Brown was now trying to write her story from monitor reportll. We learned quite a bit from the radio, but It Wall dllljolnted and hard to tit together. But It got done by 12:20 a.m. In the meantime, Novotny retumed with hI.I four.column picture. 12:40 a.m.: AP story came In on the Teletype wlUt some additional information. We placed It next to our story, llubsUtutlng paragrapha 8.1 appropriate. The story was a llttle choppy, but It carried more hard news than before. The prell! started at 1 a.m. - ftve minutell late. SUNDAY. AUO, 1, COLORADO DAY Rad10 stations reporting 19 unconftrmed deaths. Reporter Jake Henshaw, whose regular beat III the university, was sent to Loveland - It was obvious now that Big Thompson was the d18a.ster area, not Poudre. Novotny had been told the night before to get into the area f1rst thing in the morning. Hell.llhaw also was told he would be working Monday, which had been llcheduled ll.ll a day 011 for him. He was joined in Loveland by Brown. Her regular beat Is the Poudre school system. Part.tlme photographer Matt Jacobs _ who would have a fulHlme job the relt of the week _ leamed ot the Oooding when he was in Boulder, and went dlrectly to Loveland to join the other lltaffers. The extent of the damage and an accurate death toll were Impossible to detennine. It was st1ll ralnlng heavUy In the canyon and Impossible to get there by land or air.' We had talked Saturday night of increasing our 22. page Monday paper by two pages. On looking at Ute sltuaUon later, we decided to increale the sl%e by lllx pagellinorderto have room for all of the extra photos and storles that were developtng. By Sunday afternoon, It wall evident that a major disaster WILl taking place. The AP photographer from the bureau in Denver had come into the Coloradoan to begin the tranllmlllllon of the Urst of what would be about three dozen photol. Thele ph.otas were trans. mItted to newspapers throughout the United States. MONDAY, AUG. Z Virtually everyone on the news staff was involved tn the coverage of the flood. Assistant News Ed1tor Noriyukl was brought In to help edit copy; Monday would have been hI.I day off, which also WILl the clLle with Novotny. News Editor BUI Jonel coordinated staff eftort.ll1Ll Ute ltor)' rapIdly developed, and photos began pouring In from our two photographers, plue thoae from the AP photographer. The photographers had been able to get far enough up into the canyon to get !Iome startling pholol ot the 1 flood damage, plusshota of evacueea a. they arrtved, I :~ ~. .~. ':- ~'l tlsheveled and In shock, at what became the relief eenter in Loveland. A decision WIUl made early In the momlng to in. erease the neW9paper'. pre81 run by 2,1M)() extra coplell. The death count began to rlse as bod1es wa.hed down the river and were recovered: the toll had reached 67 by preAll Ume. There Wa.J no Identlt1catlon ~f the victims; their clothes had been rtpped away and their bodies badly battered. Many perBOlI.lI from other departments of the Coloradoan fed the newllroom with tips and IUch WormaUon all the names of people they knew living or vtsltlng in the canyon. News staff teamwork worked. Sports Editor Chapman wrote a story on a young man who had been up the canyon, but got out 8llfely. Women's Editor Barbara Allbrandt did a tint. person account of coming down Poudre Canyon Sunday moming, unaware at tlrst there had been a flood. Police Reporter Gary Gillen, who had joined the Coloradoan only the week befors, wrote on a couple who had lost their home. Summer intem Marcia Walford handled a wide variety of &881gn. ments. HelUlhaw wrote the main hard news of the d1aa.llter as he was to continue doing. ' TUESDAY. AUO, 5 The Tuellday ed1t1on WILl kept "loose," that Is, a large percentage of the space was kept open for neWll. Newspapers normally use about &0 per cent of thelr llpace for advertistng,wlth the remainder for news: thl8 ratio WIU being reversed. Jacobs helicoptered (thanks to Army) into hIgher reaches of Big Thompson, getllng the t1rst photos from Ws area from groun~ level, plus aer1a1s. Focu. Editor Katherine Keniston and Women's Editor Allbrandt volunteered to wrlte additional feature stortes: wish granted. Early Tuellday, It was learned that all copies of Monday'. Coloradoan had been sold. It WILl dl!ctded to print an additional 5,000 coplell of Monday's edition on Tuesday morning. By Wednelday, m08t of these were gone,too. Paul Harvey had reported on the rad10 that an tn- fant was seen stranded on a rock in the middle of the Big Thompson, referring to it as a modem "Baby Moaell." Story waswldespnad, but false. We \a\d the rumor to relit on Page 1. First stortes on lltate and federal ald for victims were publ1shed. WEDNESDAY, AUG, 4. Our biggest paper of the week, with 48 pagell. All of Page 1 again was turned over to flood coverage. Getting an accurate .death toll was extremely d1t- t1cult, with t1gurell fluctuating all over Ute place. A Loveland mortuary was to have the only really of. ficial count, and then It abdicated that role. At Ws potnt, elltlmates ranged from 7tl ot nearly a hundred _ with speculation that another hundred bodies had yet to be found. We generally stayed on the con. !Iervative side in reporting the count. J Plans were made for a four-wheel.dr1ve vehicle drive down the canyon from Estes Park, for photographer and writer. Decided to send outdoor columnist Earl WUllon, who knows the territory and 18 a good reporter. Wilson was one of two "outalde" persons recruited to help u. with coverage; the other Wllll Betty Woodworth, retired Focua editor, naw a correspondent. While nearly everyone on the lltaff waa Involved in the flood. lltory, lIle, incongr\lously, went on. A back. to-schoollectlon scheduled Aug. 18 became a problem since schools reporter Brown was occupted with Ute flood. It Wall decided to turn the section over to Mary Tumo811, who normally splltl her time ILl a proofreader and editorial all8latant (twng, clipping, etc.). She has done 90me feature work and rewrite - here was her chance to be a reporter. mURSDA1', AUG. Ii Situation eetU1ng down. MaIn stories naw concemed the continuing eearch for and Identlf1catlon of bodies, the clean.up operation and planning for rebuilding. An editorial praised the efforts of Ute hundreds of volunteer workers. At th111 point, the Coloradoan had carried 67 stortes about the flood, and 58 photo.. THE DAYS AHEAD With the pace cooled, there was IIOme time for reflection, time to reassess our coverage of the put few days and to look ahead. It was about th.Is time that talk of a special ed1t1on began. Should it be done? What would It contain? How many pagell should It be? Should we use color? What about cost? What llhould It sell for? How would sales be handled? At a meeting of Coloradoan executives, the suggelltlon was made, and unanimously accepted, that regardleu of the coat of the edition, the Coloradoan would receive none of the proceeds. One hundred per cent of the revenue would be contributed to disaster relief, and the Coloradoan would absorb the COllt of printing. This was not a sttuation tor prottt- taking. Eventually, the dectslon on the edition W&ll "go," and work began on the detallll. With virtually no way to estimate the demand for the edition, It wall decIded to print the 16-page edlUon by advance order; early estimates on' l8les tijl,d ranged from less than GOO to more than 8,000. The elltImatel proved far oft - the total would be tn ex- ceSll of 18,000. Reporters were ILIslgned llpeC1a1 .tories and up- dates for the edition, and editors pored oyer the more than 800 photos that had been taken in the course of flood coverage. Editors looked for pictures that would "best tell the story" In the limited space avaUable. While the 16 pages were to contain no advertising, we had matertal enough to fill a hundred pagee. Meanwhile, the after. the-fact flood coverage continued, and, along with It, the grim body count. For the news staff of the Coloradoan, the Big 'ThompllOn (\Qod WILl a great newa story, from the professional point of view. And there was a feeling of prtde tn the role that each played In relaying the story to the reader. Thlt Is their job, and, as one reporter was to lay, "Th1sta what we get paid for." But there Is no rejo1cing in a lltor)' like Utls. Reporters and editors and photographers are human beings no lellS 80 than those human beings who died 10 violently that night in the canyon or those they left behind to moum. Newspaper people are not the makers of the news, only the bearers of It, whether the news be bad or good or somewhere In between. Profeeslonally, the reporter separates himself from the event; per. !Ionally, he 11 no dUferent than anyone ellle.