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<br />:_I~k,';"'~~.L -j4.~,:l":liitM..~_________._____._.__.________________________~
<br />THE ESTES PARK FLOOD '10oCl/:I )'1.1 'I ;. IT;> '1 '1\1l' --....
<br />
<br />Dam had'been cit~d for seepage;f'
<br />
<br />
<br />T a Granby _
<br />
<br />Lawn Lake
<br />Dam breaks
<br />
<br />;::
<br />[!
<br />Fa" R' f>:
<br />l'Ver ~
<br />'" ~ood
<br />"li// D. .
<br />. 'liVer
<br />
<br />~-
<br />
<br />sl~_____
<br />
<br />Cascade Lake
<br />Dam washes out
<br />
<br />,.
<br />In.. Park.
<br />, '~'"i
<br />._ ---v
<br />~
<br />
<br />O.n....r
<br />~o/-
<br />
<br />)
<br />~,
<br />
<br />Entrance to
<br />Rocky Mountain
<br />Notional Pork
<br />
<br />( - . - :
<br />Campet:"s heard rr-1ghty 'roar
<br />like thunder or landing iet
<br />
<br />By GAIlV CI-:RIIAROT
<br />...._II~I
<br />
<br />The ~~h for lbose missing WOilS to
<br />resulDl." Friday.
<br />AI Park headquarl~ri" ai~lift~ ca.mpers
<br />re-rounled their brush wIth ca.la$trophe. ;.
<br />
<br />
<br />They said it ,sogl)(jed. like thunder. i
<br />freIght train. I Jet plal"lecumlng in for.
<br />landmg as 1M waten 01 LlIwn Lake roar~
<br />down Fall River C3nyon toward the cily of
<br />F..stesPark.
<br />Steven Cashman, 20, 01 W1sconsin, told
<br />authorities that he and a Irlend were at a
<br />campground along the creek running from
<br />Wlwn Lake to Il.:i conrJuence with Fill
<br />River when "suddenly, there IU$I JlJ..or
<br />40-Ioot ,,-.11 of water crashing down on top
<br />01 us," .
<br />. Ile.~id his com~n~on, ~ho 1wI?'t been "I woke up about ~ o'c1ock and tbere
<br />Idenllhed. Wall stl~1 In hIS sl~fln~ llag was just the nonnal roar of the river;' Dox
<br />when the WN"ent blL He ....as slil JJiISSID~ s;ud. "Then, I woke up later al)(j I heard a ~
<br />l.ateThursdity, -... L..o-'h ..~~ ~hau!l~""""_"'pt~
<br />I couldn't It't' well at that time in the
<br />AUTIIORI!JES SPENT Tbursday morning although there was a tull moon. I
<br />combIng the sls.mlle narrow canyon area - didn't think a......l1ple 101 about it and went
<br />betwe~n Lawn Lake and Fall River back 10 slee .
<br />searchmg fOC" themlssmg man. They also p
<br />searched the Aspenglen Campground "I looked at my watch at 6,09 .nd tbe
<br />....here two, or possibly three, people also roar was geUlDg louck>r and ,when J got
<br />were reported mining. down there (to the doIml. the dam was gone
<br />Acronlmg to Glen Kaye. spokesman lor and Ih~ banb along the fiver were c::avmg
<br />Rocky Mounuin National Park, two tele- In, carrying trffS and bouldt'n down with
<br />vision helicopters and a belicoptf'r from It."
<br />the U.S. Bureall 01 RedamaUon flew to
<br />Lawn Lake shortly after word reached
<br />them at about 630 a.m. thai the dam bad
<br />burst.
<br />KayI' said the belicoptt'n c::arried out 28
<br />01 tbe 29 c::ampen known to have been in
<br />the RQ.ilring River valley - the san)(" area
<br />Cashman and bis comp.1nion had pitched
<br />thdrtent.
<br />The survivOrs were taken to park Mo.ad.
<br />qLlarten near Estes Park.
<br />
<br />KAVE SAID food, ~e. water'lnd kero-
<br />sene were to be flown Into p.ark cOlmpsitca
<br />late Thursday.
<br />Otfldab ....ere trying to matcb people
<br />with can poarked ..t the trailheads. and.
<br />estimated th.iit it would take .t least two
<br />days to complete the pr0t't'S3. Thrf't belj..
<br />copters seolrcbed the I.r~ and teams were,
<br />walking the RQ.ilrin( River looking Jor sur-
<br />vivors or bodIes.
<br />
<br />ACCORDING TO David Boll. 37, of
<br />aarernore, Okla., a district court judge.
<br />1M earthen dam apparently Kave way
<br />slIortly before !t:30 am.
<br />ijo.ll said tbat bis wife, Mauie, and
<br />daughter. NelLa, 7, h.iid hiked Into the are.1
<br />Monday night and were plannmg to <:hmb
<br />nearhy Hague's Peak Thursday.
<br />
<br />AT TilE ASPENGLEN camping nta,
<br />James DePriest aDd his wife, Ja<:queline,
<br />of Grand Lake. Mich., S.1id. they wt're eilt.
<br />Ing breakfast at .bout 7:30 a.m. when they
<br />bt'ard a roar lhallOundt'll "louder than a
<br />train" and saw WOlter come spiJUng ov..r
<br />tbe road. Two women drove througb the
<br />campsite, warning that I. flood WI5 corn-
<br />ing.
<br />The DePrit'$b were camped about I!tO
<br />ltet IrorI} the river. None of their p0sses-
<br />sions were damaged, but other campers
<br />weren't 50 lucky.
<br />Duane and Sheri Gruhn~ of Woodbury,
<br />Minn.werecJlmpinglnatentalonpidethe
<br />river wbenthe water roared tbrooKh.
<br />Grufman said, "A ranger w.lked b)'
<br />sometilDl." around 8 or 8:30 and said a dam
<br />had bwkeo and we ~ about an bour ~
<br />get our nolf away fro"!,tbt rivet'." "-.
<br />
<br />lll..n..NOrO....JOII....O..U
<br />A shop owner shovels out mud from
<br />her st?rfl along Elk~orn Avenue in the.
<br />, heart 0' EsteS-Pork.... "" .:' I ','.' "~
<br />
<br />By NORMAN ORAI'ER
<br />Ne..Sulf
<br />The 80-year-old Lawn Lake Reservoir
<br />\Urn that burst on Thursday was eitt'll for
<br />J>>S.'ible seepage problems In a litate in-
<br />spection conducted four years ago. It had
<br />becon the s.ubject 01 compl,unb for ye.1rs.
<br />Furthermore, It was known to be "full to
<br />ovt'rIlowing" before it broke Thursday
<br />morninK.
<br />. Complaint' about the dam's safdy
<br />reachedstateolficiabasloogagQu 19~1.
<br />Noaetionwalitakf'naftera UI1Iinspt.'C.
<br />tion of the dam by the Stotle Engint.'Cr's
<br />office, which found problems witb it.'The
<br />dam was not even lnciuded in,a list of
<br />Colorado's "unufe" darns, compiled by
<br />Ille U.S. Army Corpl 01 Kngin~rs.
<br />IN!),..:AD. IT WAS eOfl!lldt.'red I "mod.
<br />erate ha%ilrd" by government offlclab who
<br />apparently figured thal';lilure 01 the dam
<br />probably wouldn1.endanger hvt'S.
<br />There are more than 100 darns In the
<br />stilte wilb more serious 'problems than
<br />u.wn Lake wall bc!lieved to bave. accord.
<br />Ing to a spokesman for the Stilte ,Engi-
<br />neer'aolflce.
<br />Slate ollicials and a spokesman for
<br />Fannt"r's O1tch and Reservoir Co., the
<br />Lo...eland.b.ased organiuoUon thi.lt owns the
<br />dam. said Tbursd.y they did not know
<br />precisely what cauU'd the dam to break.
<br />The d.1m serves 15 to 20 Loveland.area
<br />farmers.. who draw Irrigation water from
<br />tbe DiC Thompson River in shares equivl-
<br />lent to the amount 01 mountain water thry
<br />own.
<br />ACC(lrding to Ray .Ameh, v~ president
<br />01 ""armer's DUeh and Iteservoir Co.. lbe
<br />Cate. whieh would have let water out of
<br />the lake and into a stream ~Iow. was
<br />t'!OS('dJu]y8.
<br />AN INSI'..:crJON 01" the dam at the
<br />time turned up no problems, he said. Amen
<br />said the cumpany superintendent reported
<br />that the reservoir was only half.full
<br />Wbenaslr.~wbethtrther('Servoir<:ould
<br />have filled up and overflOWN during Ihe
<br />t'osuing .....tek. Amt"n saiJ. "I don't know
<br />howitC'Ould." .
<br />Rocky Mountain National Park officials
<br />uld one of its employeea had visited the
<br />tnt"I"voiJ on Wednesday, and Slid II was
<br />"fullloovertlowing,"
<br />P.lIrk olficlal~ received that rtport
<br />Thursday, said supervisory information
<br />c1trk Mary Karrakel'".-She added that t1wre
<br />had been buvy thunderstorm activity in
<br />the area rlK"enll)' and that tbe art;l had
<br />received h~vit"r than normal SIlowlall, in-
<br />'. eluding some he.avy late.seasonsl'lOws.
<br />Glen Kaye. park naturaliat and public
<br />infOC"matioli olfiCt'r, uld it was "common"
<br />for t.he rese-rvoir to be.f11led. lie added that
<br />be h.d flown over'the reservoir Thursday
<br />and laW I breach about ~O yards wide in
<br />t.he dam.
<br />TilE RESI-:R\'OIR liAS a iapaeityof
<br />815 acre-feet 01 water. An KTf'-foot is
<br />32~,8U .gallons - the amount of water it
<br />would take'to COVf'r .In acre a foot deep.
<br />The dam was l;;L$l checked by state dam
<br />Inspeolors in AUlust 1978. Aceording to
<br />the conclU$\onsof the inspection, the Lawn
<br />Lake dam "should tie observed when it is
<br />full." The ~oir was low the da)' the
<br />Inspection ~as madc-. but Inspector Louis
<br />OtCrave conduded that "It Is qulle Iiktly
<br />that the dam e.:perienced heavy Sot'Cpage
<br />througb the embankment and through the
<br />abutments."
<br />DeGrave said further that the slope
<br />downstream from !be dam "is proboibly
<br />too steep."
<br />No improvements wert made to the
<br />dam as a resalt of the inspection, eveo
<br />though a copy of tbe results were sent to
<br />FarnlCl"s Ditcb and Reservalr. No follow-
<br />up ifl!lpection was made, either.
<br />'h. IIAL SlMPSOS, ASSlST'ANT stlte mgl-
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