I was raised in Colorado and a group of us kids decided to head to Estes Park for a night of fun adventure. But at last minute we changed our plan to go south and ended up at the San Luis Valley close to Durango. But we traveled through heavy rain all night to the point we could hardly see the road. We didn’t hear about the flood until we returned to Denver. The room became very quiet as we listened to the report on the radio and we all realized how close we came to death the night before. God’s protective hand was upon us all. I still get moved with feelings of thankfulness all these years later. I was 17 in 1976, I’m 63 now in 2022.
My partner and I almost drowned in the flood. I remember the event as if I was there. Our car ended up level with the road. We were lucky to be able to move to higher ground and spent the night in an RV. Thanks to the people of Loveland and the Red Cross for organizing services after we were helicoptered out of the canyon; and the Krenings who took us in and were gracious enough to allow us to stay a while while we pulled ourselves together. Watching the film gave me an opportunity to connect with others who had survived the experience or lost people. Thanks so much.
The HP picnic was that day at Hermit Park. My dad, living north of LHS, working at HP, having grown up in Oklahoma tornado alley, stepped out of the house and saw that cloud that morning and told my very pregnant mother they weren't going. My brother's babysitter and her boyfriend, still in high school, were lost in the flood. I was born 3 days after, with the hospital in chaos per mom, and this event still shapes lives in Loveland, 48 years on.
I was 8 and with my parents and older siblings. We set up our camper lower in the canyon somewhere and started driving up to Estes park. We remember how dark the skies were, how much rain came down, and seeing larger and larger objects floating across the river. We made it up to the Waltonia and remember seeing people inside. We turned around there or a little further up before we turned around and headed down. I remember the tone of my dads voice yelling out to people still driving up to turn around. We went back to the campground and took down the camper in record time and drove out of the canyon with minutes to spare. We remember hearing helicopters all night. We’ve all been haunted by the enormous loss of life and having been face to face with so many on the road who probably didn’t make it. We’ve visited the memorial a few times over the years, including the summer before the most recent big flood (2013?) My heart goes out to all those still dealing with the trauma from this event.
My grandparents moved to the Big Thompson earlier that year and were there for the flood. They had gone to town and arrived home before the flood hit, having watched the storm as they were returning. They were across the highway from the river and up on the mountain side high enough that they didn't receive any damage and they were able to provide safety and shelter for some others who were able to reach their place before the flood hit. After the flood, they stayed rather than be evacuated out and helped with clean-up, meals, etc. using their place as a staging area for groups to meet, gather for meals, etc. In the early to mid 80's my family lived in Loveland and Estes Park and I have many wonderful memories of visiting my grandparents in the canyon, fishing in the river, etc. It wasn't until I was older that I learned of the flood and the impact it had. My grandparents saved many, many newspaper clippings, books and even a record with songs about the flood, and share many memories and stories from their time living in the canyon; but even now - 44 years later, they rarely talk about the flood and the experiences they had afterwards.
After all these years I remember it vividly. My Twin and I decided not to go up there that evening, but we lost friends. Painful memories. Grateful for those who survived and warned people❤️❤️ We have so many wonderful memories of the canyon in our youth.
The man who watched his wife and young girls get swept away...... ugh 😩 soul crushing. Poor guy. What an AWFUL thing to witness. AWFUL! I pray he has found some sense of comfort in the time since then.
I knew him very well, he recently passed away. He found a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters. He was a very very good man. I attended the memorial reunion with him. I will miss him for the rest of my life.
it's a shame one of the many heroes that night has been forgotten with the passage of time. i don't recall his name as i was just a kid then but an officer on duty that down chose to save the lives of others costing him his own. he was up the canyon in his patrol car when he found out what was happening. he turned on the car's PA system a d raced down the canyon telling people to climb to safety. tragically the water was faster than him and he was killed that night. he was the very definition of a hero.
My wife and I were on a family vacation with our son and we were camping in Estes Park on July, 30. We left that morning going down the Big Thompson Canyon heading to Yellowstone. We heard about the flood on the car radio as we were approaching the Grand Tetons. We felt very fortunate to be alive and get out of there just in time.
I had a similar experience .my friend and i were travelling around colorado for three weeks.I was so sick and tired that particular day, we were in the thompson canyon, all I wanted was a place to rent and get better .there were NO vacancies, so disappointed, we drove on.flood happened that night.we actually had shot super 8 film of people in the canyon as we drove thru, unfortunately my buddy lost it
Two friends and I were in Estes Park on the evening of July 31, 1976. We decided to leave and go back home to Laramie, WY, because of all the rain. It was dark when we left Estes Park, so I guess it was sometime around 8:30p.m. Listening to jazz tapes all the way home, we weren't aware of anything. Learned about it the next morning. That was mind-blowing!
Three Forks and Big Thompson Rivers are both very narrow Canyons and are prone to speedy floods of tremendous capacity. As the headwaters are above Steamboat Springs (which is already on the Western side of Colorado by quite a bit) it is a difficult scenario when torrential rainfall combined with mountain shearing combine to cause sudden immense flooding. They say downstream in the farm and ranchbelt of the state, "if a river drys down suddenly for a half hour to as much as day, something upstream has occurred and get high ground right away."
This documentary was devastating to watch, 144 lost is hard to imagine. The stories... What can you say? Boulder Canyon and and all other Colorado canyons WILL experience this sooner or later. Especially since 2013 we've improved as much vulnerable critical infrastructures to prepare as possible. Decades ago, rebuilt a much stronger Broadway bridge, re engineered all creek channels to not over-bank so easily. We've rebuilt all older bridges for bigger water underpass capability, etc. We've spent a lot since 2013- tens of millions I imagine, to ensure emergency access to the immediate mountain neighborhoods such as Pine Brook Hills. It will happen, but we never know when. This year- 2023 has been worrisome at times. The wettest year of all so far, but spread out... I certainly do remember the Big Thompson flood. I was 16, but we lived down here in Boulder county. I was here for the 2013 flood too, but it was not a flash flood. It rained for days and days. I also remember the 1965 Denver flood of the South Platte. My Granny lived two blocks from the river, at S. Huron and W. Tennessee. Two of my uncles, one of whom is still alive (95), got her out just in time. You can see the devastation on TH-cam from 8mm films various people shot. It's unbelievable. All bridges except one or two. Absolute catastrophe. It's why Cherry Creek, Chatfield, and other dams surrounding Denver exist, and why they are kept mostly empty.
Thank you so much for sharing this film. I was privileged to have lived in Loveland during this time. My husband and daughter and I had gone to Estes Park that day and were on our way back home (just past the mouth of the canyon) and had stopped by the river for my husband to fish. My daughter and I were at the roadside when I got a funny feeling that we needed to leave the area. We left about 6:30 that night and it was shortly after that the flood occurred. I believe we had an angel looking out for us, as my daughter and myself couldn't swim and I had the thought of "what would we do if a car hit ours and pushed us into the river?" We then went into Loveland to a friends house across town and were not aware of anything till we started back home. We were stopped at the K-mart store and told we couldn't go any further. We stayed with friends in town that night and kept watch with them to see if their parents were ok or not. They lived just at the mouth of the canyon. Luckily, the next day we found out they were ok. My daughter went to Big Thompson School and she was in girls scouts with and knew the Graham family. It was a hard lesson for an elementary child to learn of another ones death. I now live near other mountains in Tennessee, but have never forgot the hours of anguish I saw on all the faces. My heart goes out to those who lost their friends and family and I will always remember what a great place it was to be in Colorado.
We were living in Burlington, Colorado when this terrible event occurred and even 230 miles away, the early evening sky was churning ominously dark and had an eerie glow as it turned into a very tragic Colorado night. We had no idea, at that time, what had just happened a few hours prior.
My sister was at a music camp, just up the road from Estes park when that happened. Even though they were uphill from where the flood had been reported, it was way too close. It was also pouring in Denver, that day, & I sat there & freaked out until I was able to get ahold of her. The thought of the canyon being flooded, and people losing their homes and lives was devastating.
My dad took me there a year or so after the floods He showed me the water line on the canyon walls. I was very quiet, seeing what had happened. Ive always loved that canyon, and will never forget the flood that happened. I also went through in 2014, which was just a coincidence. RIP to all of the victims of this tragedy.
I too remember. I was 11 years old and lived by the Devils backbone on Glade Road. Me and my friend Todd Johnson were at the Ye Old Cheese House eating a Jolly Rancher. I remember sitting on a table with a big Cottonwood tree shading us. I noticed how beautiful the day was and commented to my friend about it, I guess the calm before the storm. We had a crazy idea to build a submarine so we went back to my place and started working on it with old scrap sheet metal and 2x4s. I remember then the power went out and my friend was picked up by his parents and that is when I was told about the flood. The next day I took my bike down to the river area. I could not get within a quarter mile of Fort Medina. I seen all the trailers washed out of the area by Ye Ol Cheese House. I later learned that 2 of my classmates died in those trailers. I remember all the propane tanks hissing. Our cat named Misty, who lived to be 20 years old was rescued off a roof floating down the flood Canyon. my mother who was on a date that night was going to go to Estes Park that night but decided to do something different. It still haunts me to this day especially when I walk up the canyon at night past the Damn Store. My friend used to own a cabin just Northwest of 7 Pines the mountain in between the two River Canyons there is a wash and little Creek on this Mountain it is still natural you can still see the absolute power and devastation boulders 20 foot up in a tree and giant trees lodged hi up on other trees. It was really creepy I just wanted out of there. I actually seen the 2013 flood too. I just remember that it rained for 3 days straight and we got evacuated my place was okay. The next day I seen how powerful and large this flood was too it washed out 2 Lakes by the cement place. Thank you for this documentary
I grew up in Greeley and our family spent many weekends in the Thompson Canyon. My father had been the Navy recruiter in Greeley from 1954 until he retired then joined the Greeley PD. We knew many people who lived in the canyon including the ranger that operated the state trout farm near the power station. In 1976 I was in the Navy going to a school on the coast of Virginia I had received a letter that day from my parents saying they were headed to the town of Drake in the middle of the canyon to look at a travel trailer they might purchase. As I came in that night at about 1:00 AM from gaurd duty at a school building the pictures of the flood was on the news I asked where the flood was at and someone said Ther Big and I was immediately in a phone booth when they asked what was wrong I said my parents were supposed to be in that canyon. I stayed on the phone calling everyone I could think of (family members in Denver and Greeley, friends of my parents) all to no avail. About a half hour later the base commander came in to see if I had made any contact. Two days later 20 min before I was to be flown to Colorado as part of a search team I was able to get ahold of my older sister who told me my parents had changed their mind and went south to Walsenburg. For years after I had kept a recording of the state patrol officer who had been known to me and my father as he tried to escape the wall of water chasing him down the canyon.
I realize it's been some time since this video was posted, but I just found it. I remember this event quite well, even though I live in Missouri; but a boy I knew lost his entire family in the Big Thompson Flood while they were camping. He happened to have been here when it happened, so he was left without a family. It was all so terrible - his little sister's coffins at the funeral were particularly wrenching. What an awful thing... so many people killed by this flood, and it all happened so rapidly.
At the time of the '76 Big Thompson Flood I was a student at CU-Boulder working a conference hosted by the University in a campground just north of Nederland and 35 miles due south of Estes Park on Colo. Hwy. 7. We all saw the storm clouds forming over Estes and the Big Thompson Canyon. "...Somebody's going to have a rough time up there..." I thought. Little did we realize just how bad it was going to get..
I was 6 years old. My family rented a coleman pop up camper in 76 and we went to cripple creek among other places. As we sat on the side of a rise overlooking the campground my father saw the clouds coming over the mountain on the far side of the ravine and knew what it meant being a farm boy from southern illinois. He said "we're getting out of here" I don't want to be on the side of a mountain when that hits! We didn't waist 2 seconds! We packed up camp and headed back east. By the time we got to Kansas city it was all over the news what had happened. (We got out just in time)
I remember driving home that night north through LaPorte by Verns Place. The rain was insane. The water was so deep on the road it was covering the floor of my truck. The water was like a river coming down the highway from the weighstation at the top of 287, which was my turn off. The next morning I found out about the big T flood disaster.
Thanks for publishing this documentary. I had relatives who lived in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and one day while visiting I drove with a relative down through the Big Thompson River valley and observed the boulders that had been washed down and eventually spread out on to what became after the flood an open and level area. It was amazing to see how the powerful rush of water could move so many boulders of that size! The force behind that massive surge of water must have been incredible and terrifying!
I watched a documentary about this disaster some time ago but it was not so focused on the people that survived and died, this one is so much more poignant and emotionally stirring, I hate to even imagine what it was like that night. It always amazes me that it takes a disaster like this to stimulate change in weather forecasting, emergency management and building regulations etc, but at least that is a sliver of a silver lining to a very dark cloud. Thanks for sharing this excellent and informative documentary film 🎥 RIP. 😔👍🇬🇧🏴
At the time this happened I was 13 years old we lived in Fort Collins, CO and earlier that day my dad wanted all 6 of our family to go up to the mountains in the Big Thompson for a picnic we often did that over a weekend in the summer. But for some reason he changed his mind and we didn't go.....we would have been washed down the river as we always had our picnic near the river at a campground.
I'm a survivor of that flood, was only 10 years old, first family vacation, my family stayed at a campground, my guess half way up the canyon, don't remember the name but I remember the campground owner drove like a 1940's or older pickup truck, I think it was red, we camped maybe 50 to 100 yards from the main road, right next to the river about 30 to 40 yards or so, the mountain was on the other side of the river where we camped, I crossed it earlier in the afternoon before the heavy rains started, it was already naturally very swift I remember barely making it across without falling over, I remember seeing a dead rattle SNAKE on the other side, we went to sleep early that night only to be awakened by the campground host in the old 40's 50' truck, telling us to leave as fast as we could, I was still asleep in my tent was almost left matter of FACT, the rest of this story most of it my dad and older brothers filled me in, we had a 1966 Chevy pickup, with a camper shell and a small cargo trailer, we had no time to grab anything , BY the time they felt around the tent for me and threw me into the bed of the truck water was already 3 ft deep, BY the time we made it to the road, my dad told me the water was half way up the doors of our old truck, my brothers pointed to the trailer, it was floating sideways behind the truck, the campground owner told my dad a wall of water was heading for us, this man saved our whole family and a friends lives, there were 10 of us, to him I'm forever grateful, because I'm not sure he made it out, because about 8 years later we went back there, drove back to where we had camped, and there his truck sat with boulders on top of cab, inside the truck and in the bed, and I recovered one of our tent stakes tied to a string on a telephone POLE, if anyone out there can put together what camp ground this was and knew the man I would love to hear from you😊
Hi, I am not sure which campground that would have been but we were there in the canyon also. I was 8 and with my parents and older siblings. We set up our camper lower in the canyon somewhere and started driving up to Estes park. We remember how dark the skies were, how much rain came down, and seeing larger and larger objects floating across the river. We made it up to the Waltonia and remember seeing people inside. We turned around there or a little further up before we turned around and headed down. I remember the tone of my dads voice yelling out to people still driving up to turn around. We went back to the campground and took down the camper in record time and drove out of the canyon with minutes to spare. We remember hearing helicopters all night. We’ve all been haunted by the enormous loss of life and having been face to face with so many on the road who probably didn’t make it. We’ve visited the memorial a few times over the years, including the summer before the most recent big flood (2013?) My heart goes out to all those still dealing with the trauma from this event.
34:40. I suffered a fire ..all that survived was my antique Christmas ornaments that were stored in the garage. I love the Big Thompson area, just went through there last week. RIP to those lost.
The canyon is very narrow, and steep terrain on both sides make it susceptible to catastrophic flooding, if a storm dumps massive amounts of water in one event. It happened twice in a 50 year span. It will happen again.
My girlfriend at the time lost three of her friends in that flood. The fourth miraculously got out a window. There was a caravan of Campus Crusade girls coming from a conference. The rain was so heavy the one car went right instead of left at the top of the canyon. I drove up that canyon five years later. Hard to believe anyone lived. A police officer died warning people as he drove up the road with lights and siren on.
I loved driving my MG down the Big Thompson and hearing the engine echo in the canyon. Now it is all different. I remember a lot of the motels and such that never got rebuilt.
In 1976 of course there was no internet, no live TV news. But there was CB radio. I lived in Boulder at the time. The CB had been quite that night but then just came alive with chatter as the flood began. My Dad and I didn't go to bed that night as we listened to the CB in the car. My Dad even slapped on the battery charger so the car battery wouldn't conk out. What was most vivid was the excitement of the voices on the CB. I didn't here radio chatter like that again till the night of the High Park fire above Ft. Collins where I now live. That was the night they lost control of the fire.
I feel the same way, I understand your comment. Everytime I go through the narrows I think about what happened when I was 20, All the other vehicles and their passengers seem oblivious to it all to me. You made a short but great comment, And you are understood by me 💯☮️☮️☮️👈🏽
We are staying inEstes Park now and drove highway 34 through this canyon this morning, then we get to our hotel room at the Stanley and saw this on PBS. I was in 4th grade when this happened, as a kid, you hear of the flood but the tragic scope does not register. So sad to see landmarks and even some of the buildings that were in the film on our drive this morning. Still doing repairs from 2013 as well. God bless all of you who were touched by both floods.
I moved to Ft Collins from the east coast in he summer of 1977 and we drove up the canyon then and the distraction was still pretty amazing. You could see the old road here and there. Damaged houses still stood along the river. I’ll never forget it.
My parents told me they planned to drive that canyon on that day. I stayed home with the dog. They had changed their minds and toured Colorado on another route. I sweated bullets watching those systems combining. When they returned home I told them what they had missed. 😮
Remember it well, Our family lived in Co.Spr. Co. and the storm system moved down the front range (south), our back yard was a bluff outcrop and most of us were digging a trench line to divert the flood of water from entering our home which worked. The next day Neighbors said around 6-7pm the previous night they could see up north west on the front range (80mi.) huge cloud decks that were blacker than a chalk board. I'm surprised only a few comments on this link? Interesting, people seem too forget and rebuild in the same place? I'll save my opinion'(s)
I worked for a single mom, who was in the National Guard. I stayed with her 7-year-old as she was working the flood. 3 weeks later she returned. Her stories were hard to hear.
My family and I were there. We were planning to camp there. Thankfully because it was raining so hard outside of Denver we opted to stay somewhere else at a higher elevation. The next morning, people were crowded around the tiny B&W TV in the main office. I remember my parents and grandparents being very upset at the news...and how close we all came to being some of those statistics. :-(
I was there that day too, but we travelled onto St.Elmo to camp since no vacancies were available.didnt even know about the flood until days later when my godfather called and asked if i was anywhere near the canyon.
I had gone to Oshkosh at the time of the flood. My parents were worried that I might be on the Thompson doing some fishing. I went to an airshow instead.
We were there from Pueblo the night of the flood, I was a junior in HS and a couple of us wanted to go camping.. we headed up the canyon to find a spot to camp but everything was full.. we headed back out and went up another draw where there were camping areas and found a spot.. It was around 10AM when the news got to us about the flood and all the people were washed out with many not surviving.. Had we left town earlier as planned? who knows.....
The people doing this documentary needed to do their homework. The native americans would not camp in the Big Thompson due to sudden floods. The homesteaders used to see 20 walls of water shoot out of the canyon during storms upstream. It has always flooded.
Ma West I grew up near there. Which native Americans are you referring to? The road was built in 1904 so which homesteaders are you talking about? What kind of homework do you think they needed to do? Did the filmmakers build the road and houses that were destroyed? You need to turn off Fox News for a while to regain some sanity.
@@IcelanderUSer I didnt grow up near the Thompson. I grew up in the Thompson Canyon. I still live in the Big Thompson. We knew the Arapaho had camps in Cedar cove, but they did not stay there long. The Cheyenne would hunt the Thompson, but not camp. There is a study done in the early 1900s on the impact of flooding on the crops. Several people were interviewed that witnessed the 20 foot wall of water shoot out of the mouth of the Thompson Canyon. I remember my grade school teacher talking about it. I hate hearing people refer to the flood as the 10,000 year flood. This Canyon has ALWAYS flooded. It just wasnt very populated in the early years.
@@mawest4775 I have heard that Dayton, Ohio made the same mistakes -- not learning from Natives about where to build and just plain paying attention to recent history of flooding. The 1913 flood cost 360 lives.
Earlier in the video, one woman said (I'm paraphrasing) "If people want to rebuild there, why not let them?" Yeah, sure, why not, IF THEY CAN PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES? That means, no government subsidized funds. Too much of the funds used for rebuilding, after the 1976 and 2013 floods, came out of taxpayer money. Filing for bankruptcy isn't fair, either, especially since people knew they were living in an area prone to huge flooding. The residents were playing Russia Roulette with other people's money by continuing to rebuild.
I guess that strange, logic could be applied to the good people of New Orleans, San Francisco and of course the victims of the Colorado wildfires. Home is where you live and love. Returning to where you belong is not so strange. Your Colorado and Federal tax money have gone to pay for lesser things. The road to Estes was rebuilt and the business of life continues. God bless all affected by these floods and I understand why you returned. Peace.
I had just moved to Boulder, CO and my X-husband and I were headed to the canyon to camp that Saturday morning. I saw 2 hitch-hikers on the side of the road with their legs stretched out using their feet instead of their hands. I thought it was cute and told my X to stop and pick them up. He said he could not stop because of the cars behind me and that I had always told him to never pick up a hitch hiker. I was a little upset that he did not stop for them. A little down the road we stopped at the General Store in Nederland to get something to drink. When we came out, they had gotten a ride to the bridge right next to the store. I told my X "Now you have no excuse, pick them up!" They invited us to their campsite and we ended up spending a few hours with them. Then it started to rain and it was raining harder every minute. I looked at my X and said "Let's go home!" The next day we heard about the flood and the people who died in the canyon. He looked at me and said "I will never question you again."
Priscilla DePetris hi,we had hitched thru there,one month earlier, I know those two were smart,and got up on the hill, travelers smarts! Blessings to,You!
Priscilla DePetris were you thinking of the storm that hit west of Boulder, Co. In, 71or72or73. (I can't remember which year it was.) There was flooding in Boulder canyon and there was some flooding in Boulder. This video is talking about the Big Thompson canyon east of Estes Park which heads towards Loveland.
@@rogerschmer7715 unfortunately both the 1976 and the 2013 floods devastated the canyon..1976 with more lives lost and the 2013 with much more damage. Before the 1976 flood the canyon was lined with campgrounds, shops and gas stations. Afterwards, 2 campgrounds opened back up. A couple shops opened back up and only could get gas in Drake. After the 2013, no gas, no shops and only 1 campground. I know they would not issue building permits for years after the 2013 flood. Only repairs were allowed, and other than rebuilding , Ive not seen anything new .
Sorry for y'alls lose. In 1979, a tropical depression hit Texas. Roads and pastures were flooded. You could not go anywhere by car, were we lived. I remember going across the pasture with my mom, brother, and aunt ck on relatives. Our dogs were in my dad's shop. Same yr, my grandmother and lady were killed by a drunk. My grandpa died of heart attack and broken heart. Their better systems in place, then yrs ago. Because their no internet and no cellphones. Just landlines.
Of course, the lady who left her dog to face and die in the flood alone, and whose family did not die in the flood, thinks that if a person wants to build right beside the river, why not. Really?
I knew a woman who lived up there but wasn't there at the time of the flood. They had rebuilt there place, and started staying there in the mid 1980's. On three separate occasions several members of the family saw a middle aged man, soaking wet, standing near the back of the cabin, close to the river. He would be there and then just gone, like someone flicking a switch. It only happened for a short while, but never scared anyone.
I think some of my relatives were camping there but packed up because their tent leaked, getting out just in time. Plus a school teacher I had said that he was there and saved some people from the water.
I recall the gold panning in 1977 was fantastic. As bad as this was there was a bright spot as the streams were as rich in the yellow metal in the eddies as they were a century or more earlier. It didn't last long though - the streams were worked heavily and by 1978 about all you could find was gold dust.
In 2016 I phoned up the people that owned our TV station and tower formerly known of the flood situation. A hispanic older lady answered answered from Kansas City and behaved as if I were trespassing on the property instead of acknowledging my request to inform our region of the impending floodwaters. Denver Stations were beaten by the same situation and far too much denial from interlopers with a devious design in their minds to only block us because of their inability to really know anyhow AND the likelyhood that their number to call as distributed wasnt anywhere even near ANY position within the entire State of Colorado. Just how is it that our entire right to acknowledge our own safety and provide guidance has been given or even sold to peoples that arent even within a days driving distance from the borders of the State of Colorado?
Singer guitarist the late Chuck Pyle wrote a song about the flood. It was mainly about a Colorado State Trooper that perished in the flood attempting to warn residents to seek higher ground. Chuck was also known for writing "Jaded Lover" that Jerry Jeff Walker recorded and "Cowboy Cadillac" known better as "Other Side of the Hill". Pyle also used embellishments in the lyrics but the song can give one the chills never-the-less.. Flash floods appear in a flash hence the name when it is raining hard up in higher elevations and Thompson Canyon was the funnel that day. It could be sunny and calm were you are by a dry creek bed and if you know one is coming or there is an alert climb to higher ground- you will never outrun it. A few bodies were never found and some were found out in the plains. th-cam.com/video/_kzSTw7WMNI/w-d-xo.html
Because there will always be a sucker to buy the land and build a house there. After the 3rd flood in 2013, they decided to building the road around the river instead of diverting the river around the road. Not very bright to think it was ever ok to do that in the first place.
And it will happen again and again. Both in canyons and along coast lines. Federal taxpayer-funded flood insurance encourages people to build and live in places that have excessive risk. Building in those places is like building on the side of an active volcano. Not if but when.
@@23Dd23 Every place has issues, there is no perfect place to live. However, certain places are much more likely to have catastrophic disasters than others. Living in these is a calculated risk and you should do so at your own risk
the blonde women can't keep her story straight, she'in a couple other docs and each time her story is different, b4 she said, she broke the window, and that she told her husband to take the kids and climb up the mountainside bc she couldn't, she never said her other daughter was swept downstream, she said b4 they rented the cabin, now her in-laws built it. I wonder if Aaron really died!!
@@aspincelaframboise5300 One brain cell enough with your foolish lies. This is neither the time nor the place. Babbling fool! STOP embarrassing yourself and your family.
I was raised in Colorado and a group of us kids decided to head to Estes Park for a night of fun adventure. But at last minute we changed our plan to go south and ended up at the San Luis Valley close to Durango. But we traveled through heavy rain all night to the point we could hardly see the road. We didn’t hear about the flood until we returned to Denver. The room became very quiet as we listened to the report on the radio and we all realized how close we came to death the night before. God’s protective hand was upon us all. I still get moved with feelings of thankfulness all these years later. I was 17 in 1976, I’m 63 now in 2022.
My partner and I almost drowned in the flood. I remember the event as if I was there. Our car ended up level with the road. We were lucky to be able to move to higher ground and spent the night in an RV. Thanks to the people of Loveland and the Red Cross for organizing services after we were helicoptered out of the canyon; and the Krenings who took us in and were gracious enough to allow us to stay a while while we pulled ourselves together. Watching the film gave me an opportunity to connect with others who had survived the experience or lost people. Thanks so much.
The HP picnic was that day at Hermit Park. My dad, living north of LHS, working at HP, having grown up in Oklahoma tornado alley, stepped out of the house and saw that cloud that morning and told my very pregnant mother they weren't going. My brother's babysitter and her boyfriend, still in high school, were lost in the flood. I was born 3 days after, with the hospital in chaos per mom, and this event still shapes lives in Loveland, 48 years on.
I was 8 and with my parents and older siblings. We set up our camper lower in the canyon somewhere and started driving up to Estes park. We remember how dark the skies were, how much rain came down, and seeing larger and larger objects floating across the river. We made it up to the Waltonia and remember seeing people inside. We turned around there or a little further up before we turned around and headed down. I remember the tone of my dads voice yelling out to people still driving up to turn around. We went back to the campground and took down the camper in record time and drove out of the canyon with minutes to spare. We remember hearing helicopters all night. We’ve all been haunted by the enormous loss of life and having been face to face with so many on the road who probably didn’t make it. We’ve visited the memorial a few times over the years, including the summer before the most recent big flood (2013?) My heart goes out to all those still dealing with the trauma from this event.
My grandparents moved to the Big Thompson earlier that year and were there for the flood. They had gone to town and arrived home before the flood hit, having watched the storm as they were returning. They were across the highway from the river and up on the mountain side high enough that they didn't receive any damage and they were able to provide safety and shelter for some others who were able to reach their place before the flood hit. After the flood, they stayed rather than be evacuated out and helped with clean-up, meals, etc. using their place as a staging area for groups to meet, gather for meals, etc. In the early to mid 80's my family lived in Loveland and Estes Park and I have many wonderful memories of visiting my grandparents in the canyon, fishing in the river, etc. It wasn't until I was older that I learned of the flood and the impact it had. My grandparents saved many, many newspaper clippings, books and even a record with songs about the flood, and share many memories and stories from their time living in the canyon; but even now - 44 years later, they rarely talk about the flood and the experiences they had afterwards.
Your grandparents sound like wonderful people. You must be very proud of them.
After all these years I remember it vividly. My Twin and I decided not to go up there that evening, but we lost friends. Painful memories. Grateful for those who survived and warned people❤️❤️ We have so many wonderful memories of the canyon in our youth.
Lived in Ft. Collins in ‘76. I’ll never forget the magnitude of the storms that night.
The man who watched his wife and young girls get swept away...... ugh 😩 soul crushing. Poor guy. What an AWFUL thing to witness. AWFUL! I pray he has found some sense of comfort in the time since then.
I knew him very well, he recently passed away. He found a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters. He was a very very good man. I attended the memorial reunion with him. I will miss him for the rest of my life.
it's a shame one of the many heroes that night has been forgotten with the passage of time. i don't recall his name as i was just a kid then but an officer on duty that down chose to save the lives of others costing him his own.
he was up the canyon in his patrol car when he found out what was happening. he turned on the car's PA system a d raced down the canyon telling people to climb to safety. tragically the water was faster than him and he was killed that night.
he was the very definition of a hero.
My wife and I were on a family vacation with our son and we were camping in Estes Park on July, 30. We left that morning going down the Big Thompson Canyon heading to Yellowstone. We heard about the flood on the car radio as we were approaching the Grand Tetons. We felt very fortunate to be alive and get out of there just in time.
Jerry Phillips Amen
I had a similar experience .my friend and i were travelling around colorado for three weeks.I was so sick and tired that particular day, we were in the thompson canyon, all I wanted was a place to rent and get better .there were NO vacancies, so disappointed, we drove on.flood happened that night.we actually had shot super 8 film of people in the canyon as we drove thru, unfortunately my buddy lost it
Jerry Phillips I was on my honeymoon there! Memorable to say the least.
We left too but I was only 7 !
I need to ask my brothers what they remember!
😊❤️❤️
You should have been washed away
Two friends and I were in Estes Park on the evening of July 31, 1976. We decided to leave and go back home to Laramie, WY, because of all the rain. It was dark when we left Estes Park, so I guess it was sometime around 8:30p.m. Listening to jazz tapes all the way home, we weren't aware of anything. Learned about it the next morning. That was mind-blowing!
Three Forks and Big Thompson Rivers are both very narrow Canyons and are prone to speedy floods of tremendous capacity. As the headwaters are above Steamboat Springs (which is already on the Western side of Colorado by quite a bit) it is a difficult scenario when torrential rainfall combined with mountain shearing combine to cause sudden immense flooding. They say downstream in the farm and ranchbelt of the state, "if a river drys down suddenly for a half hour to as much as day, something upstream has occurred and get high ground right away."
This documentary was devastating to watch, 144 lost is hard to imagine. The stories... What can you say?
Boulder Canyon and and all other Colorado canyons WILL experience this sooner or later. Especially since 2013 we've improved as much vulnerable critical infrastructures to prepare as possible. Decades ago, rebuilt a much stronger Broadway bridge, re engineered all creek channels to not over-bank so easily. We've rebuilt all older bridges for bigger water underpass capability, etc. We've spent a lot since 2013- tens of millions I imagine, to ensure emergency access to the immediate mountain neighborhoods such as Pine Brook Hills. It will happen, but we never know when. This year- 2023 has been worrisome at times. The wettest year of all so far, but spread out...
I certainly do remember the Big Thompson flood. I was 16, but we lived down here in Boulder county. I was here for the 2013 flood too, but it was not a flash flood. It rained for days and days. I also remember the 1965 Denver flood of the South Platte. My Granny lived two blocks from the river, at S. Huron and W. Tennessee. Two of my uncles, one of whom is still alive (95), got her out just in time. You can see the devastation on TH-cam from 8mm films various people shot. It's unbelievable. All bridges except one or two. Absolute catastrophe. It's why Cherry Creek, Chatfield, and other dams surrounding Denver exist, and why they are kept mostly empty.
Thank you so much for sharing this film. I was privileged to have lived in Loveland during this time. My husband and daughter and I had gone to Estes Park that day and were on our way back home (just past the mouth of the canyon) and had stopped by the river for my husband to fish. My daughter and I were at the roadside when I got a funny feeling that we needed to leave the area. We left about 6:30 that night and it was shortly after that the flood occurred. I believe we had an angel looking out for us, as my daughter and myself couldn't swim and I had the thought of "what would we do if a car hit ours and pushed us into the river?" We then went into Loveland to a friends house across town and were not aware of anything till we started back home. We were stopped at the K-mart store and told we couldn't go any further. We stayed with friends in town that night and kept watch with them to see if their parents were ok or not. They lived just at the mouth of the canyon. Luckily, the next day we found out they were ok. My daughter went to Big Thompson School and she was in girls scouts with and knew the Graham family. It was a hard lesson for an elementary child to learn of another ones death. I now live near other mountains in Tennessee, but have never forgot the hours of anguish I saw on all the faces. My heart goes out to those who lost their friends and family and I will always remember what a great place it was to be in Colorado.
This comment was written by my Mother as I was born there, but not till 1984
@@willoughby1888 Well said. And not trying to be cutesy religious, there will be a day that all human suffering will end.
@@willoughby1888 I have studied that as well to include the weather forecaster, the loss of his wife and the blame all thrown on him.
Yup
Loveland was a "Sundown Town" who didn't allow black and other POC to settle there. That's not something to be proud of
I moved to Colorado in 1987, and you could still see the tremendous damage that the Big Thompson flood had caused to the valley.
We were living in Burlington, Colorado when this terrible event occurred and even 230 miles away, the early evening sky was churning ominously dark and had an eerie glow as it turned into a very tragic Colorado night. We had no idea, at that time, what had just happened a few hours prior.
I lived in Estes over 40 years, I have home movies from 1960 that my dad took when we were on vacation.
My sister was at a music camp, just up the road from Estes park when that happened. Even though they were uphill from where the flood had been reported, it was way too close. It was also pouring in Denver, that day, & I sat there & freaked out until I was able to get ahold of her. The thought of the canyon being flooded, and people losing their homes and lives was devastating.
My dad took me there a year or so after the floods He showed me the water line on the canyon walls. I was very quiet, seeing what had happened. Ive always loved that canyon, and will never forget the flood that happened. I also went through in 2014, which was just a coincidence. RIP to all of the victims of this tragedy.
I too remember. I was 11 years old and lived by the Devils backbone on Glade Road. Me and my friend Todd Johnson were at the Ye Old Cheese House eating a Jolly Rancher. I remember sitting on a table with a big Cottonwood tree shading us. I noticed how beautiful the day was and commented to my friend about it, I guess the calm before the storm. We had a crazy idea to build a submarine so we went back to my place and started working on it with old scrap sheet metal and 2x4s. I remember then the power went out and my friend was picked up by his parents and that is when I was told about the flood. The next day I took my bike down to the river area. I could not get within a quarter mile of Fort Medina. I seen all the trailers washed out of the area by Ye Ol Cheese House. I later learned that 2 of my classmates died in those trailers. I remember all the propane tanks hissing. Our cat named Misty, who lived to be 20 years old was rescued off a roof floating down the flood Canyon. my mother who was on a date that night was going to go to Estes Park that night but decided to do something different. It still haunts me to this day especially when I walk up the canyon at night past the Damn Store. My friend used to own a cabin just Northwest of 7 Pines the mountain in between the two River Canyons there is a wash and little Creek on this Mountain it is still natural you can still see the absolute power and devastation boulders 20 foot up in a tree and giant trees lodged hi up on other trees. It was really creepy I just wanted out of there. I actually seen the 2013 flood too. I just remember that it rained for 3 days straight and we got evacuated my place was okay. The next day I seen how powerful and large this flood was too it washed out 2 Lakes by the cement place.
Thank you for this documentary
I grew up in Greeley and our family spent many weekends in the Thompson Canyon. My father had been the Navy recruiter in Greeley from 1954 until he retired then joined the Greeley PD. We knew many people who lived in the canyon including the ranger that operated the state trout farm near the power station. In 1976 I was in the Navy going to a school on the coast of Virginia I had received a letter that day from my parents saying they were headed to the town of Drake in the middle of the canyon to look at a travel trailer they might purchase. As I came in that night at about 1:00 AM from gaurd duty at a school building the pictures of the flood was on the news I asked where the flood was at and someone said Ther Big and I was immediately in a phone booth when they asked what was wrong I said my parents were supposed to be in that canyon. I stayed on the phone calling everyone I could think of (family members in Denver and Greeley, friends of my parents) all to no avail. About a half hour later the base commander came in to see if I had made any contact. Two days later 20 min before I was to be flown to Colorado as part of a search team I was able to get ahold of my older sister who told me my parents had changed their mind and went south to Walsenburg. For years after I had kept a recording of the state patrol officer who had been known to me and my father as he tried to escape the wall of water chasing him down the canyon.
I realize it's been some time since this video was posted, but I just found it. I remember this event quite well, even though I live in Missouri; but a boy I knew lost his entire family in the Big Thompson Flood while they were camping. He happened to have been here when it happened, so he was left without a family. It was all so terrible - his little sister's coffins at the funeral were particularly wrenching. What an awful thing... so many people killed by this flood, and it all happened so rapidly.
At the time of the '76 Big Thompson Flood I was a student at CU-Boulder working a conference hosted by the University in a campground just north of Nederland and 35 miles due south of Estes Park on Colo. Hwy. 7. We all saw the storm clouds forming over Estes and the Big Thompson Canyon. "...Somebody's going to have a rough time up there..." I thought. Little did we realize just how bad it was going to get..
I was 6 years old. My family rented a coleman pop up camper in 76 and we went to cripple creek among other places. As we sat on the side of a rise overlooking the campground my father saw the clouds coming over the mountain on the far side of the ravine and knew what it meant being a farm boy from southern illinois. He said "we're getting out of here" I don't want to be on the side of a mountain when that hits! We didn't waist 2 seconds! We packed up camp and headed back east.
By the time we got to Kansas city it was all over the news what had happened. (We got out just in time)
I’m glad your dad didn’t second-guess himself and got your family out of there.
I remember driving home that night north through LaPorte by Verns Place. The rain was insane. The water was so deep on the road it was covering the floor of my truck. The water was like a river coming down the highway from the weighstation at the top of 287, which was my turn off. The next morning I found out about the big T flood disaster.
Thanks for publishing this documentary. I had relatives who lived in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and one day while visiting I drove with a relative down through the Big Thompson River valley and observed the boulders that had been washed down and eventually spread out on to what became after the flood an open and level area. It was amazing to see how the powerful rush of water could move so many boulders of that size! The force behind that massive surge of water must have been incredible and terrifying!
I watched a documentary about this disaster some time ago but it was not so focused on the people that survived and died, this one is so much more poignant and emotionally stirring, I hate to even imagine what it was like that night. It always amazes me that it takes a disaster like this to stimulate change in weather forecasting, emergency management and building regulations etc, but at least that is a sliver of a silver lining to a very dark cloud. Thanks for sharing this excellent and informative documentary film 🎥 RIP. 😔👍🇬🇧🏴
At the time this happened I was 13 years old we lived in Fort Collins, CO and earlier that day my dad wanted all 6 of our family to go up to the mountains in the Big Thompson for a picnic we often did that over a weekend in the summer. But for some reason he changed his mind and we didn't go.....we would have been washed down the river as we always had our picnic near the river at a campground.
I'm a survivor of that flood, was only 10 years old, first family vacation, my family stayed at a campground, my guess half way up the canyon, don't remember the name but I remember the campground owner drove like a 1940's or older pickup truck, I think it was red, we camped maybe 50 to 100 yards from the main road, right next to the river about 30 to 40 yards or so, the mountain was on the other side of the river where we camped, I crossed it earlier in the afternoon before the heavy rains started, it was already naturally very swift I remember barely making it across without falling over, I remember seeing a dead rattle SNAKE on the other side, we went to sleep early that night only to be awakened by the campground host in the old 40's 50' truck, telling us to leave as fast as we could, I was still asleep in my tent was almost left matter of FACT, the rest of this story most of it my dad and older brothers filled me in, we had a 1966 Chevy pickup, with a camper shell and a small cargo trailer, we had no time to grab anything , BY the time they felt around the tent for me and threw me into the bed of the truck water was already 3 ft deep, BY the time we made it to the road, my dad told me the water was half way up the doors of our old truck, my brothers pointed to the trailer, it was floating sideways behind the truck, the campground owner told my dad a wall of water was heading for us, this man saved our whole family and a friends lives, there were 10 of us, to him I'm forever grateful, because I'm not sure he made it out, because about 8 years later we went back there, drove back to where we had camped, and there his truck sat with boulders on top of cab, inside the truck and in the bed, and I recovered one of our tent stakes tied to a string on a telephone POLE, if anyone out there can put together what camp ground this was and knew the man I would love to hear from you😊
I remember my mom saying we were between 2 RIVERS if that helps
Hi, I am not sure which campground that would have been but we were there in the canyon also. I was 8 and with my parents and older siblings. We set up our camper lower in the canyon somewhere and started driving up to Estes park. We remember how dark the skies were, how much rain came down, and seeing larger and larger objects floating across the river. We made it up to the Waltonia and remember seeing people inside. We turned around there or a little further up before we turned around and headed down. I remember the tone of my dads voice yelling out to people still driving up to turn around. We went back to the campground and took down the camper in record time and drove out of the canyon with minutes to spare. We remember hearing helicopters all night. We’ve all been haunted by the enormous loss of life and having been face to face with so many on the road who probably didn’t make it. We’ve visited the memorial a few times over the years, including the summer before the most recent big flood (2013?) My heart goes out to all those still dealing with the trauma from this event.
@@windycitystitchersflosstub8711 Thanks for sharing your story ill never forget that disaster, I gained alot of respect for water at an early age
I was 16 years old and lived in Longmont. I remember it very well.....
I'm the baby that is being carried in the picture at time stamp 4:04. I was just over 2 and a half months old.
So glad you are still with us 💚
Glad you're OK! Go Avs go! Makar grew up playing hockey in the arena 6 houses up from me in Calgary Alberta.
I was living in Arvada then, a NE suburb of Denver and I drove that canyon many times. It really affected the people in the state then.
144 people died…that makes me so very sad. Nature is an unforgiving mistress. I pray that never happens again…anywhere.
34:40. I suffered a fire ..all that survived was my antique Christmas ornaments that were stored in the garage.
I love the Big Thompson area, just went through there last week. RIP to those lost.
The canyon is very narrow, and steep terrain on both sides make it susceptible to catastrophic flooding, if a storm dumps massive amounts of water in one event. It happened twice in a 50 year span. It will happen again.
I moved to Colorado in 87 and you could still see the giant boulders and scarring of the landscape in the canyon
My girlfriend at the time lost three of her friends in that flood. The fourth miraculously got out a window. There was a caravan of Campus Crusade girls coming from a conference. The rain was so heavy the one car went right instead of left at the top of the canyon. I drove up that canyon five years later. Hard to believe anyone lived. A police officer died warning people as he drove up the road with lights and siren on.
I loved driving my MG down the Big Thompson and hearing the engine echo in the canyon. Now it is all different. I remember a lot of the motels and such that never got rebuilt.
In 1976 of course there was no internet, no live TV news. But there was CB radio. I lived in Boulder at the time. The CB had been quite that night but then just came alive with chatter as the flood began. My Dad and I didn't go to bed that night as we listened to the CB in the car. My Dad even slapped on the battery charger so the car battery wouldn't conk out. What was most vivid was the excitement of the voices on the CB. I didn't here radio chatter like that again till the night of the High Park fire above Ft. Collins where I now live. That was the night they lost control of the fire.
These days I find myself hating people. Society has become so disgusting. But listening to this restores a bit of my faith.
I feel the same way, I understand your comment.
Everytime I go through the narrows I think about what happened when I was 20,
All the other vehicles and their passengers seem oblivious to it all to me.
You made a short but great comment,
And you are understood by me 💯☮️☮️☮️👈🏽
@Mr. Moon Brainwashed by education, man. I thought I had heard it all.
@Mr. Moon That's it, tear down the public schools it's all a sham
@@someonesomewhere6671 It's almost 2025. Sadly, your sarcasm (which I more than understand) is turning out to be prophetic.
We are staying inEstes Park now and drove highway 34 through this canyon this morning, then we get to our hotel room at the Stanley and saw this on PBS. I was in 4th grade when this happened, as a kid, you hear of the flood but the tragic scope does not register. So sad to see landmarks and even some of the buildings that were in the film on our drive this morning. Still doing repairs from 2013 as well. God bless all of you who were touched by both floods.
BO JACKSON stay out of room 237.
I moved to Ft Collins from the east coast in he summer of 1977 and we drove up the canyon then and the distraction was still pretty amazing. You could see the old road here and there. Damaged houses still stood along the river. I’ll never forget it.
My parents told me they planned to drive that canyon on that day. I stayed home with the dog. They had changed their minds and toured Colorado on another route. I sweated bullets watching those systems combining. When they returned home I told them what they had missed. 😮
Remember it well, Our family lived in Co.Spr. Co. and the storm system moved down the front range (south), our back yard was a bluff outcrop and most of us were digging a trench line to divert the flood of water from entering our home which worked.
The next day Neighbors said around 6-7pm the previous night they could see up north west on the front range (80mi.) huge cloud decks that were blacker than a chalk board.
I'm surprised only a few comments on this link?
Interesting, people seem too forget and rebuild in the same place? I'll save my opinion'(s)
I worked for a single mom, who was in the National Guard. I stayed with her 7-year-old as she was working the flood. 3 weeks later she returned. Her stories were hard to hear.
My family and I were there. We were planning to camp there. Thankfully because it was raining so hard outside of Denver we opted to stay somewhere else at a higher elevation. The next morning, people were crowded around the tiny B&W TV in the main office. I remember my parents and grandparents being very upset at the news...and how close we all came to being some of those statistics. :-(
Glad you're alive. :)
I was there that day too, but we travelled onto St.Elmo to camp since no vacancies were available.didnt even know about the flood until days later when my godfather called and asked if i was anywhere near the canyon.
I was living in Denver Colorado back then 😎
What a sad yet amazing story! My heart and prayers go out to those caught in these floods.
I had gone to Oshkosh at the time of the flood. My parents were worried that I might be on the Thompson doing some fishing. I went to an airshow instead.
We were there from Pueblo the night of the flood, I was a junior in HS and a couple of us wanted to go camping.. we headed up the canyon to find a spot to camp but everything was full.. we headed back out and went up another draw where there were camping areas and found a spot.. It was around 10AM when the news got to us about the flood and all the people were washed out with many not surviving.. Had we left town earlier as planned? who knows.....
Wow now that one tugs at your heart . The poor souls how horrific .
The people doing this documentary needed to do their homework. The native americans would not camp in the Big Thompson due to sudden floods. The homesteaders used to see 20 walls of water shoot out of the canyon during storms upstream. It has always flooded.
Ma West I grew up near there. Which native Americans are you referring to? The road was built in 1904 so which homesteaders are you talking about? What kind of homework do you think they needed to do? Did the filmmakers build the road and houses that were destroyed? You need to turn off Fox News for a while to regain some sanity.
@@IcelanderUSer I didnt grow up near the Thompson. I grew up in the Thompson Canyon. I still live in the Big Thompson. We knew the Arapaho had camps in Cedar cove, but they did not stay there long. The Cheyenne would hunt the Thompson, but not camp. There is a study done in the early 1900s on the impact of flooding on the crops. Several people were interviewed that witnessed the 20 foot wall of water shoot out of the mouth of the Thompson Canyon. I remember my grade school teacher talking about it. I hate hearing people refer to the flood as the 10,000 year flood. This Canyon has ALWAYS flooded. It just wasnt very populated in the early years.
@@mawest4775 I have heard that Dayton, Ohio made the same mistakes -- not learning from Natives about where to build and just plain paying attention to recent history of flooding. The 1913 flood cost 360 lives.
@@Tracymmo you are right, we humans need to learn from history and the people that lived it.
Earlier in the video, one woman said (I'm paraphrasing) "If people want to rebuild there, why not let them?" Yeah, sure, why not, IF THEY CAN PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES? That means, no government subsidized funds. Too much of the funds used for rebuilding, after the 1976 and 2013 floods, came out of taxpayer money. Filing for bankruptcy isn't fair, either, especially since people knew they were living in an area prone to huge flooding. The residents were playing Russia Roulette with other people's money by continuing to rebuild.
Don't forget those with beach houses. No subsidized flood insurance either.
I guess that strange, logic could be applied to the good people of New Orleans, San Francisco and of course the victims of the Colorado wildfires. Home is where you live and love. Returning to where you belong is not so strange. Your Colorado and Federal tax money have gone to pay for lesser things. The road to Estes was rebuilt and the business of life continues. God bless all affected by these floods and I understand why you returned. Peace.
I had just moved to Boulder, CO and my X-husband and I were headed to the canyon to camp that Saturday morning. I saw 2 hitch-hikers on the side of the road with their legs stretched out using their feet instead of their hands. I thought it was cute and told my X to stop and pick them up. He said he could not stop because of the cars behind me and that I had always told him to never pick up a hitch hiker. I was a little upset that he did not stop for them. A little down the road we stopped at the General Store in Nederland to get something to drink. When we came out, they had gotten a ride to the bridge right next to the store. I told my X "Now you have no excuse, pick them up!" They invited us to their campsite and we ended up spending a few hours with them. Then it started to rain and it was raining harder every minute. I looked at my X and said "Let's go home!" The next day we heard about the flood and the people who died in the canyon. He looked at me and said "I will never question you again."
I never pick up hitchhikers.
Priscilla DePetris hi,we had hitched thru there,one month earlier, I know those two were smart,and got up on the hill, travelers smarts! Blessings to,You!
Priscilla DePetris were you thinking of the storm that hit west of Boulder, Co. In, 71or72or73. (I can't remember which year it was.) There was flooding in Boulder canyon and there was some flooding in Boulder. This video is talking about the Big Thompson canyon east of Estes Park which heads towards Loveland.
Roger Schmer she’s not sure. She thinks she was in Colorado. She’s not sure.
@@rogerschmer7715 unfortunately both the 1976 and the 2013 floods devastated the canyon..1976 with more lives lost and the 2013 with much more damage. Before the 1976 flood the canyon was lined with campgrounds, shops and gas stations. Afterwards, 2 campgrounds opened back up. A couple shops opened back up and only could get gas in Drake. After the 2013, no gas, no shops and only 1 campground. I know they would not issue building permits for years after the 2013 flood. Only repairs were allowed, and other than rebuilding , Ive not seen anything new .
I remember this I was 5 years old and living in Denver.
Sorry for y'alls lose. In 1979, a tropical depression hit Texas. Roads and pastures were flooded. You could not go anywhere by car, were we lived. I remember going across the pasture with my mom, brother, and aunt ck on relatives. Our dogs were in my dad's shop.
Same yr, my grandmother and lady were killed by a drunk. My grandpa died of heart attack and broken heart. Their better systems in place, then yrs ago. Because their no internet and no cellphones. Just landlines.
I remember that huge flood. Was terrible. So many lives were lost.
Of course, the lady who left her dog to face and die in the flood alone, and whose family did not die in the flood, thinks that if a person wants to build right beside the river, why not. Really?
Agree, like a referee for a prize fight he has to save the fighters from themselves some times because of the will to win
Holy crap as a native I love learning about the history here...
I knew a woman who lived up there but wasn't there at the time of the flood. They had rebuilt there place, and started staying there in the mid 1980's. On three separate occasions several members of the family saw a middle aged man, soaking wet, standing near the back of the cabin, close to the river. He would be there and then just gone, like someone flicking a switch. It only happened for a short while, but never scared anyone.
I think some of my relatives were camping there but packed up because their tent leaked, getting out just in time.
Plus a school teacher I had said that he was there and saved some people from the water.
I had never heard of this until I found a book on it. Devastating event.
Yep I remember that was glad I wasn’t close to the area. But seen the water rushing down
life is only loaned to each one of us not bought or owned
How many square miles of watershed run thru there when it rains though? FYI, IT'S ALLOT.
I recall the gold panning in 1977 was fantastic.
As bad as this was there was a bright spot as the streams were
as rich in the yellow metal in the eddies as they were a century or more earlier.
It didn't last long though - the streams were worked heavily and by 1978 about all
you could find was gold dust.
Didn’t hear anything about the flood in the north fork . The town of Glen Haven . G. H. Took a big hit . I still have friends living in Glen Haven .
In 2016 I phoned up the people that owned our TV station and tower formerly known of the flood situation. A hispanic older lady answered answered from Kansas City and behaved as if I were trespassing on the property instead of acknowledging my request to inform our region of the impending floodwaters. Denver Stations were beaten by the same situation and far too much denial from interlopers with a devious design in their minds to only block us because of their inability to really know anyhow AND the likelyhood that their number to call as distributed wasnt anywhere even near ANY position within the entire State of Colorado.
Just how is it that our entire right to acknowledge our own safety and provide guidance has been given or even sold to peoples that arent even within a days driving distance from the borders of the State of Colorado?
I was there as a child in 1969. Beautiful country!
Singer guitarist the late Chuck Pyle wrote a song about the flood. It was mainly about a Colorado State Trooper that perished in the flood attempting to warn residents to seek higher ground. Chuck was also known for writing "Jaded Lover" that Jerry Jeff Walker recorded and "Cowboy Cadillac" known better as "Other Side of the Hill". Pyle also used embellishments in the lyrics but the song can give one the chills never-the-less..
Flash floods appear in a flash hence the name when it is raining hard up in higher elevations and Thompson Canyon was the funnel that day. It could be sunny and calm were you are by a dry creek bed and if you know one is coming or there is an alert climb to higher ground- you will never outrun it.
A few bodies were never found and some were found out in the plains.
th-cam.com/video/_kzSTw7WMNI/w-d-xo.html
far why do you guys keep building there
Because there will always be a sucker to buy the land and build a house there. After the 3rd flood in 2013, they decided to building the road around the river instead of diverting the river around the road. Not very bright to think it was ever ok to do that in the first place.
Priscilla DePetris you should be an engineer
@@paanne1013 Yeah, I agree. In 2013 the river took back its old course
We were in the 65 flood in Denver, that was bad enough
rebuild at your own risk
Foolish people..
Then they will yell not enough help!!😞
when people insist on ruining beautiful places by "I'm taking that spot " Mother Nature takes em out, and rightly so.
God bless those souls.
humans have a long record of picking the wrong places to live
Very well done😥
Hard to figure out why a pbs channel failed to turn on closed cations on all there films it's so easy
Good Vid.. Worth a peek .
the dam stores still there lol i drove past it a couple days ago i’m watching this in the canyon right by the river at night i’m paranoid asf
And it will happen again and again. Both in canyons and along coast lines. Federal taxpayer-funded flood insurance encourages people to build and live in places that have excessive risk.
Building in those places is like building on the side of an active volcano. Not if but when.
Water is a powerful, unforgiving force of nature. Sadly, it always wins😔😪
How is it that nobody seems to be pointing out the causality/liability of the design and ownership of the upatream Dam's Failure?
BEEN UP AND DOWN BIG THOMPSON 2 OR 3 TIMES, BUT HAD NO IDEA OF THIS. SO SAD. EAST TENNESSEE
The only reasons that the bodies could never be found are horrific thoughts
result of people living where they shouldn't be living.. too common.
dontlive on a flood plane
Same logic for people on the coast and hurricanes? How about folks in the midwest and tornadoes? This is a dumb comment.
@@23Dd23 Every place has issues, there is no perfect place to live. However, certain places are much more likely to have catastrophic disasters than others. Living in these is a calculated risk and you should do so at your own risk
I think people show little concern for lifes let alone their own familys" by rebuilding in these areas!
Some folks understand the definition of the word flash flood, and then there are these folk.
the blonde women can't keep her story straight, she'in a couple other docs and each time her story is different, b4 she said, she broke the window, and that she told her husband to take the kids and climb up the mountainside bc she couldn't, she never said her other daughter was swept downstream, she said b4 they rented the cabin, now her in-laws built it. I wonder if Aaron really died!!
@@aspincelaframboise5300 One brain cell enough with your foolish lies.
This is neither the time nor the place.
Babbling fool!
STOP embarrassing yourself and your family.
Glad I don't live in a basement in Fort Collins anymore.
Quit building there.
have water will travel
yes
after the flood, I bet they wished they had bought the insurance plan
If only they all drove electric cars, then global warming and Climate Change would never have occurred.