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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />The Denver Post Online: Today's News <br /> <br />tho <br />Den~f <br />Post , <br />~~.l.;td\. <br /> <br />News <br />home <br /> <br />Flood Archive <br />- Bia Thomason <br />- '1 DO-year' Flood <br />- Buffalo Creek <br />- Georoetown . i <br /> <br />Tuesday, July 29, 1997 <br /> <br />Page lof3 <br /> <br />Fort Collins hit hard by storm <br /> <br />. Heavy storms in the metro area <br /> <br /> <br />By Kerri S. Smith and Steve <br />Lipsher <br />Denver Post Staff Writers <br /> <br />July 29, 1 p.m. - FORT COLLINS - <br />A relentless rain continued to fall <br />Tuesday morning as rescue crews <br />spread across the city, searching for <br />people injured, trapped or killed by <br />last night's deadly flood. <br /> <br />A corone s epartment 0 ICla <br />helps an unidentified woman load The record-setting downpour triggered <br />the body of one of the victims of a flooding through the center of Fort <br />flood that swept through two trailer II' . . . . <br />parks south of downtown Fort CO IDS, deflllhng a tram, sparking a <br />Collins. (AP) natural gas explosion, washing away <br />90 mobile homes and killing at least <br /> <br />five people. <br /> <br />Another 20 people still are reported missing. Property damage is <br />estimated at several million dollars, authorities said. <br /> <br />"It was hell," said concrete worker Lonnie Smith, 36. Smith escaped <br />his trailer at the Johnson Center Mobile Home Park wearing just a pair <br />of pants as a wall of water swept away everything in its path. <br /> <br />Twelve hours later, as he talked about his narrow escape, Smith's <br />hands still shook. <br /> <br />"It was frightening. You'd hear people yelling, "help me, I'm going to <br />die,' " he said. <br /> <br />Starting around 8:30 p.m. Monday, heavy thunderstorms "just <br />innundated" the city, said Glenn Levy, battalion chief for the Poudre <br />Fire Department. <br /> <br />"We had water in virtually every ditch; every creek, every river was <br />out of its banks," Levy said. "The fire fighters and police literally <br />rescued hundreds of people through the night. We pulled them out of <br />buildings and cars - it's been a long day here in River City." <br /> <br />According to the National Weather Service, 8.41 inches ofrain fell <br />between 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on an area about 1.5 miles west of <br />Colorado Slate University. At the CSU campus, 6.07 inches fell over a <br />24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. <br /> <br />5:06 PM <br />