Lawn Lake flood 40 years ago changed Estes Park ESTES PARK, CO - July 15, 1982: Water from the July 15, 1982, Lawn Lake flood flows past the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and. Days and weeks that followed would reveal 144 people perished in the flood that destroyed a canyon and changed lives forever. 3481: Lower Colorado Protection Act of 2009, H.R. Much of the responsibility, however, had to be borne by owners of the dam, the Farmers Irrigation Ditch & Reservoir Co. Its 16 stockholders became worried about legal action, but they were protected by their corporation. Today Snow likely,with a high near 29. "I started to hear a sound like an airplane there were loud booms I saw trees crashing over and a wall of water coming down there was a deafening roar,'' Steve Cashman, survivor of the flood told officials in 1982. Youve tried treating it with heat or cold, but it Treehouse Learning draws from the combined wisdom of trusted experts in childhood development. Elkhorn Avenue, Estes Park's primary commercial strip, roughly paralleled Fall River, and sustained the bulk of the damage. Flood waters were replaced by a flood of people rescuers, family members and journalists, their own stories making headlines about covering the mayhem in a time before cellphones, the internet and camera ubiquity. From the west parking lot, the path winds along Roaring River to a 56-foot bridge crossing the river, offering access to the east side of the fan. Another inspector reported two years later that the dam was in fair condition and suggested that its owners make repairs. It fell within the National Park boundary when the Park was established in 1915. "For days, it was a race from one stop to the next, then to the nearest phone or back to Fort Collins to make the deadline for the afternoon paper," wrote Jake Henshaw, the lead Coloradoan reporter who covereddisaster, in a column marking the 10th anniversary. However, in 1903, 12 years before the parks founding, the Farmers Irrigation Ditch and Reservoir Co. added a dam to supply water to farmlands around Loveland. It also led to the establishment of the now expired Estes Park Urban Renewal Authority. If the Lawn Lake flood had never happened, Estes Park would not look the way it does today, said Dave Thomas, who managed local radio station KSIR-AM 1470 at the time and covered the breaking story on the morning of July 15, 1982. The savior-like arrival of Gerry Spence (a world-famous Wyoming trial attorney at the time), filling the air with spectacle and dressed practically in a hair shirt, only added to the sideshow. 6:30 p.m.: Rain turns heavy, particularly in areas between Estes Park, Glen Haven, and Drake along the U.S. Highway 34 corridor. As the waters were coming down Elkhorn and propane tanks were spinning around and cars were crashing into our business, he said, we looked at each other and said, Oh, what a tremendous opportunity this is!, Thomas recalled that the town had been laid out facing the street and turning its back on the rivers. An alluvial fan quickly formed at the mouth of Roaring River. In the aftermath, the area was rebuilt through a combination of private and public funds. A direct-buried gate valve was located in this pipe directly under the crest of the dam. Water buoyed homes. Bodies were pulled from debris piles and muck from high in the canyon to areas near Interstate 25. In 1975, the inspector recommended a more thorough examination once the snow melted, and in both '77 and '78, the dam was categorized as being in fair condition, and possibly in need of repair. I got up and went and walked my dog, and thats how little hurry I was in. (1983). Horseshoe Park is much bigger than Lawn Lake. Park rangers responded by 6:31 a.m., closing gates and setting up traffic barricades into Endovalley and on Highway 34 as muddy, rushing water swirled to their knees. Chance of precipitation is 60%. High Plains Bank began doing business in Longmont a decade ago, providing personal banking at its best. High Plains Bank began doing business in Longmont a decade ago, providing personal banking at its best. 9:15 p.m.: Sgt. What we see today is a blend of what was spared by the flood, as well as what the community envisioned for its future.. It was 6:23 a.m. when he sighted the flood coming toward him and alerted park officials. Even if discovered early, only a superhero could have repaired the cracking dam in time, using laser-welds projected by X-ray vision. Evelyn Kindred, 67, from the Drake area of the Big Thompson Canyon. The forested banks of Roaring River where scoured away in a landslide of thousands of tons of material. FROM THEARCHIVES:A look back at Coloradoan's coverage of the 1976 flood. The debris was pushed across Horseshoe Park damming the Fall River and forming a shallow lake. He's credited with saving hundreds of lives by issuing evacuations lower in the canyon. All Denver Public Library locations will be closed Wednesday, January 18 in anticipation of inclement weather conditions. George McCarty, 21, from Denver, wascamping along U.S. Highway 36. Fortunately, Steve Gillette was collecting trash at the Lawn Lake trailhead. That group was formed, Rosener said, after John Webermeier, who owned National Park Village North and South, determined that Estes Park was going in the wrong direction. Some escaped early, somehow, like the family from Greeley with a cottage in Drake, who told me they had planned to stay in their cabin through Sunday, but went home Saturday afternoon, fed up by their normally well-behaved dog scratching frantically at the front screen door. Dam owners lacked the insurance or assets necessary to satisfy the millions of dollars in court claims even if liquefied. By the time victims understood the severity of what was happening around them, it was too late. Suddenly and without warning, 760 acre-feet of impounded water at Lawn Lake (enough to cover 760 acres of land (approximately 760 football fields in water one foot deep, or one football field 760. Imagine human beings, trapped in their cars, swept from a tenuous handhold, trying to find safety, subjected to these same forces. High Plains Bank began doing business in Longmont a decade ago, providing personal banking at its best. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. damfailures.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Baker_30thAnniver.pdf, Western Water Assessment, University of Colorado, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. National flood insurance covered only 20 property owners out of some 275 affected by the flood. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land Luna Leopold. Estes Park Flood 7-15-82 KWGN-TV 3,419 views Nov 2, 2014 In July, 1982, residence were given 15 minutes to get to high ground. Below Horseshoe Park was the Cascade Dam. We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Three buck elk play around Thursday morning November 10, 2005 in Horseshoe Park, in Rocky Mountain National Park. One man below the dam was swept to his death in the churning water. Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. The spillway at Olympus Dam remained open until 9:00 p.m., and, irony of ironies, the only significant structural damage in town that night was caused by a house fire, ignited by a lightning bolt. The aftermath included months of clean-up and frustration. Sunday, Aug. 1: Death reports begin to mount. Reporter Jackie Hutchins provided an especially commendable summary given time constraints, as the town flooded Thursday, with in-depth coverage hitting the newsstands on Friday. Flood waters in the town were calculated to have reached 5 feet, damaging 177 businesses (90% of the town's businesses), 108 residences and destroying 13 bridges. It wasn't until the death toll surpassed the 100 people that many realized just how bad this storm had been. Video. Looking downstream at the east end of Estes Park during the peak flow of the flood which was caused by failures of Lawn Lake Dam and Cascade Lake Dam. Until waters receded by mid-afternoon, most storeowners were reduced to agonized views from safer vantage points on Little Prospect, Davis Hill, and the Birch Ruins, with a few remaining inside their shops, barricading doors and doing all they could to keep floodwaters from breeching windows, until concerns of ruptured gas lines forced police-backed eviction. On Tuesday morning, Stephen Gillette set out on his route through Rocky Mountain National Park an hour earlier than usual. The struts supporting the siphon, the elevated 9-foot diameter pipe carrying water across the Narrows to Horsetooth Reservoir, were ripped loose, the siphon tossed around and crumpled like a spent roll of toilet paper. He quickly concluded that the entire assets of the ditch company consisted of little more than their $1.4 million insurance policy. All of my team worked over the next 12 to 14 months to create the plan, construction began in 1984 and was done in about two years.. State Engineer, State of Colorado. Special to the Reporter-Herald/TOWN OF ESTES PARK? More information. The answer was formation of the Estes Park Urban Renewal Authority, thanks to the efforts of the then two-year-old Forward Estes Park Foundation. Looking upstream at the west end of Estes Park during the peak flow of the flood which was caused by failures of Lawn Lake Dam and Cascade Lake Dam. The force of the water first backed up behind the dam, and then suddenly toppled the 17-foot high structure at 7:42 a.m. The scar left by the scouring of Roaring River and the alluvial fan at Horseshoe Park are still very apparent 37 years later and will remain for a very long time[citation needed]. [3], When the dam failed the waters rushed down the Roaring River valley, which falls 2,500 feet (760m) in 6 miles (9.7km), at a peak rate of 18,000 cubic feet per second (510 m3/s), scouring a large gully out of the mountain stream and killing one person camping alongside it. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. If this can be believed, a five-month-old baby, according to reports, was found the following morning, unharmed, alone, washed up on an island of sand, surrounded by swirling water. Low interest rate loans were made available. In Estes Park, the rain, which began in earnest around 6:00 p.m., was slightly more than a bother, less than an alarm. Water, Ditches, Dams and Floods. The Big Thompson River begins around Estes Park in northern Colorado and flows east through the state into Big Thompson Canyon. One camper still in his tent was killed as the torrent rushed to Fall River, where the landscape flattened. The report concluded that the failure occurred due to leakage under high pressure from the leaded connection of the outlet pipe and valve, causing progressive piping of the dam embankment in the vicinity of the outlet pipe during periods of high reservoir levels and gate closure and sudden collapse of the embankment allowing rapid evacuation of the reservoir., (1) Baker, M., McCormick, B. By CHARLES J. CANNON. We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. The reservoir was at almost 11,000 foot elevation and the dam enlarged a natural . Chris, thank you for this short but informative story on the Lawn Lake Flood. Estes Park, Colorado, Flood July 15, 1982. Willis Hugh Purdy in his last radio transmission before being swept away,killed by the water. Between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on July 15, 1982, the 26-foot tall earthen dam holding back Lawn Lake perched 4.5 miles and 2,500 feet above Estes Park breached, unleashing the bulk of its more than 800 acre-feet of water stored to irrigate crops in the Loveland area cascading down the Roaring River Valley. In this archival report from Aug. 3, 1976, NBC's Mike Jackson reports on the deadliest flood in Colorado history. This time of the year the park is pretty empty, not many other visitors. It went through a store called Grandpas, came in the front window and went out the side door, several feet deep, washing out his merchandise.. Clouds piled 12 miles into the mountain skyunleashed a deluge on July 31, 1976, setting off the most powerful flood since glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago. Pressurized pipes within embankment dams can lead to failure. The official cause of collapse was attributed to internal erosion resulting from deterioration of lead caulking on the joint between the outlet pipe and the gate valve the visual take-home for us non-engineering types was a 50-foot wide, top-to-bottom gash. Submitted by Mike Macey, Col on November 1, 2018. All rights reserved. [2] There had been issues reported during inspections in 1951, 1975, 1977 and 1978. [1], Over the years the road that had been cut to permit construction of the dam fell into disrepair and ceased to exist. At this rate, the lake emptied in about half an hour. From the dam, the flood charged down the steep channel of Roaring River. Damages topped $30 million, which ultimately had to be absorbed by businesses and individuals. Many weren't. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Cascade Dam failed from the onslaught and added its waters to the flood. All things considered, it could have been significantly worse. Business structures in Glen Haven, including the Red Stallion Lodge (generally remembered as lost), though extensively damaged, remained standing, for the most part. When all was said and done, the flood did over 31 million dollars in damage to Estes Park alone, most of which wasnt covered by insurance. Fortunately, much of the debris remained behind the dam, as this resultant swell poured through the town of Estes Park. Lawn Lake Dam was located in Rocky Mountain National Park upstream of Estes Park, Colorado. The first two to three miles of the Big Thompson Canyon leaving Estes Park also escaped relatively unscathed. [14] [15] In the first hour alone, 8 inches of rainfall was recorded for a total of 12 inches during the first three hours. Now we have the riverwalk, we have park benches, we have new lighting. Two other campers also were killed, but their survivors have not sued the government. The National Guard had set up a strict curfew of the downtown area beginning at 8 p.m. the night of the flood. There is a sitting area and informal trails that offer additional views of the current river's flow as well as scars left by the flood. Gillette said that it looked like a mudslide of the type you see in the movies. As a consequence of the dam failure, aging dams at Pear Reservoir, Bluebird Lake and Sandbeach Lake in the park were demolished and removed. Teresa Graham, 10, from the Cedar Cove area of the Big Thompson Canyon. All rights reserved. I can't get out" said Colorado State Patrol Sgt. The shops on the south side of Elkhorn and Fall River generally suffered more damage. In 2020, the hard-surface trail to the fan was rebuilt and made fully accessible. Lawn Lake, at 10,789 feet at the headwaters of Roaring River in what now is Rocky Mountain National Park and eight miles west of Estes Park, originally was a 16.4-acre natural body of water dammed by a glacial moraine. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. Flood waters destroyed 18 bridges, damaged road systems (particularly Fall River Road), inundated 177 businesses (75 percent of. Most of the settlements of Drake, Midway, and Cedar Cove were washed away. Denver, Colorado. Upon reaching the mouth of the valley at Horseshoe Park, where the torrent was able to spread out and slow for a bit, it left an alluvial fan covering over 40 acres. Due in part to its inaccessible nature, no comprehensive examinations were done, and no repairs were made. The State Engineer performed an investigation and issued a report 8 months following the failure. Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Tim Asbury is widely considered the best straight news reporter ever to spend time in Estes Park. Babies were snatched from their families. 6462: Water and Agriculture Technology Economic Revitalization Act of 2012, Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP), Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2009, Reneweble Water Resources to Front Range project, S. 1215: Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, S. 1321: Water Accountability Tax Efficiency Reinvestment Act of 2009, S. 1417 and H.R. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board meeting recap, 2015 Colorado legislation: Rainwater catchments bill passes out of House ag committee, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, 51st State Initiative (North Colorado Secession), Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority, Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, Colorado Wyoming Cooperative Water Supply Project, H.R. Rescue helicopters are mobilized, and daylight makes the destruction apparent. I remember all of the news on TV and reading accounts in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. The three weather systems approaching from Arizona, Canada, and the Gulf of Mexico were hardly a secret. Some homes were rebuilt. Today Snow likely,with a high near 29. ASDSO Annual Conference. I'm right in the middle of it. Because of the dam's remote and difficult location, inspection and repairs lapsed. The park also built interpretive signs explaining the formation of the site to enhance the visitor experience. The reservoir was 4 feet below its normal water level and it was believed the reservoir and 70-foot tall concrete Olympus Dam could contain the flow. The 1976 Big Thompson flood stands as the worst natural disaster in Colorado's recorded history. Suddenly and without warning, 760 acre-feet of impounded water at Lawn Lake (enough to cover 760 acres of land (approximately 760 football fields in water one foot deep, or one football field 760 feet deep) erupted through the previously impervious Lawn Lake Dam. Special to the Reporter-Herald/Town of Estes Park By Dallas Heltzell | July 16, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. But in the wake of the flood, the community had a unique opportunity to pull together and create a new downtown, with new buildings, businesses, parks and trails. All rights reserved. At just more than a mile into the hike, you will see the power the flood had in the Roaring River Valley as it careened downward. your own Pins on Pinterest They were among the first evacuated by helicopter. A still frame captured from a news report on the Lake Lawn Flood in Estes Park on July 15, 1982. Of course you Theres a Zen vibe at Harper House Apartments. Lawn Lake was originally a natural lake with a surface area of 16.4 acres (6.6 ha), located at an elevation of approximately 11,000 feet (3,400 m) in the Rocky Mountains. Three people lost their lives in what was called the worst natural disaster to ever hit Estes Park. Twenty-five years after the accident, the extent of the former reservoir is still clearly evident, and at the mouth of the lake, the start of the Roaring River flows through the location of the former dam. Families gathered at the oldLoveland Memorial Hospital, anxious to hear the latest identity of the figurestucked in body bags, whichwere laid out in refrigerated trucks in the parking lot there were too many for the morgue to handle. Data Owner : U.S. Geological Survey Photographer : Jarret, Robert D. . He was making a pickup at the Lawn Lake trailhead and heard a roar and saw debris in the air, he said in an interview following the flood in 1982. "I'm stuck. An estimated 3,500 people were camping, fishingand relaxingin the canyon that night. 5892: Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2012, H.R. Those who stayed faced a long, harrowing and expensive cleanup process. The vast volume of water poured into Fall River and picked up finely divided glacial silt in the process. With the 39th anniversary of one of Estes Park's biggest disasters approaching on July 15, 2021 . I watched as water washed away the new installation Four Seasons had just put in. 6:30 p.m.: Rain turns heavy, particularly in areas between. Even the 2013disaster in the same spotpaled in comparison both in body countand sheer brutality, largely because people were caught flat-footed some 40 years ago. Pretty soon I did begin to see tree branches and pieces of wood floating and the river began to get higher by inches and then much higher, Thomas said. To poorly paraphrase Cormac McCarthy in No Country for Old Men, if they werent in a mess the night of July 31, 1976, what they were about to witness would serve until the real mess got there. After an initial feeling of devastation among downtown business owners who suddenly were dealing with hip-deep mud at the height of tourist season, Thomas said, the people who owned businesses got busy cleaning out the mud right away and one week after the flood we had a parade!, Bob Buford, one of the performers at the Lazy B stage show, recorded a song called The Gutsiest Little Town in Colorado, Thomas said, and the radio station played it pretty much nonstop for weeks after the flood because the people of the town really came together to put the town back together again. With nowhere to go, that deluge sped down the rocky hillsides. Between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on July 15, 1982, the 26-foot tall earthen dam holding back Lawn Lake perched 4.5 miles and 2,500 feet above Estes Park breached, unleashing the bulk of its more. The flood swept motels, residential structures, and mobile homes off their foundations. Some residents recall fishing in Loveland and looking to the west, curious about the strange storm pattern that didn't jibe with late-summer monsoonflows. High-profile trial lawyer Gerry Spence was hired by Estes Park property owners to represent their interests. Damages totaled $31 million and a total of three lives were lost. Youve tried treating it with heat or cold, but it Treehouse Learning draws from the combined wisdom of trusted experts in childhood development. Fortunately, this dam was able to withstand the added pressure, but the sheer volume meant that the dam was quickly overtopped, causing a secondary flood surge. 9 p.m.: Forecasters in Denver issue a weather bulletin warning of slow-moving thunderstorms that could result in some local flooding.. This Mighty Misery joined with the Big Thompson and flowed into Lake Estes, finally halted by Olympus Dam. Store owners were required to obtain special permits to enter the devastated area. It's a boy, a boy and a girl: Meet the first babies of 2023. news. But, until that evening, the agreed-upon meeting place for these fronts was a bit nebulous. Don't forget to like ourFacebookpage to keep up to date with all our research news and events! The flood rushed over Horseshoe Valley on its way to overwhelming Fall River, where it toppled the 17-foot-high concrete Cascade Reservoir dam, adding a new surge of water. At the other end of the canyon, even then, it was hard to convince anyone to change course. More than 400 vehicles,many loaded with tourists or residents trying outrun the water,were swept off roads and sentcrashing down the steep andcraggy mountain canyon. (2) National Park Service (1982). Thompson flood stands as the torrent rushed to Fall River and picked up finely divided glacial silt the! Harper House Apartments business in Longmont a decade ago, providing personal banking its! 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