[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. High-profile trial lawyer Gerry Spence was hired by Estes Park property owners to represent their interests. A little after 8 a.m., the muddy, debris-ladden flood waters plowed into downtown Estes Park via Elkhorn Avenue at an estimated speed of 6,000 cfs. The release of water was heard by campers along the Roaring River. 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. Pressurized pipes within embankment dams can lead to failure. 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. 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. Submitted by Mike Macey, Col on November 1, 2018. Homes and cottages along West Creek and the North Fork of the Big Thompson River near Glen Haven were, seemingly at random, ripped from their foundations, leveled in place, or completely ignored. Ill. 1985)", High Elevation Dam Removals in Rocky Mountain National Park, Cache La Poudre River Corridor National Heritage Area, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lawn_Lake_Dam&oldid=1030944002, Buildings and structures in Larimer County, Colorado, Buildings and structures in Rocky Mountain National Park, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. 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.. The failure flood changed as it went downstream due to the changing topography and the presence of a downstream dam. Editor's Note: On July 31, 1976, the skies opened up overtheBig Thompson Canyon, setting off thedeadliest natural disaster in Colorado history thatclaimed 144 lives and caused $35 million of damages. This amplified the intensity of the flood and a wall of water raced through the Aspenglen Campground killing two people. Instead of having these ugly areas behind stores, they turned the focus back toward the rivers. There was a cabin the CCC built in the 30's in which we stayed. The hardest hit areas were the Fall River Trailer Court, Nickys Resort and the Ponderosa Lodge. It was the eve of the state's 100th birthday, part ofa three-dayshindig that drew weekend warriors and outdoor enthusiasts to the mountains of Larimer County. Sometimes there's singing. A Colorado State Patrol trooper responds to investigate. gather at theBig Thompson Canyon Association and Memorial Site, How the Coloradoan covered the Big Thompson Flood in 1976, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. It was summer. The flood swept away one camper. The dam was a 17-foot-high gravity concrete dam (Courtesy of G. D. George from USGS files). "If . State inspectors were partially to blame along with the Park Service. Submitted by Leonard Tinker on September 14, 2021. 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. The densest devastation began downstream, beyond Millers Fork heading to Drake. Much of the water, mud and detritus rushed across the Horseshoe Park basin, merging with Fall River and backing up behind the Cascade Dam. The forested banks of Roaring River where scoured away in a landslide of thousands of tons of material. Lawn Lake Dam was located in Rocky Mountain National Park upstream of Estes Park, Colorado. 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. 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. At the relatively flat confluence of the Roaring River and Fall River, the flood threw up its load of boulders and trees on Endovalley, creating an alluvial fan 500 feet wide and 44 feet deep. It was clear to the Park Service that they were dealing with an emergency, but they didnt yet know what exactly the emergency was, nor how severe. Days and weeks that followed would reveal 144 people perished in the flood that destroyed a canyon and changed lives forever. Mechanical issues meant that two of the A-1 Trash Co.s trucks had been unable to make their rounds the preceding day, so he had set off before dawn to put a dent in the backlog. More information. Shortly after 6 a.m. on July 15, 1982, the Lawn Lake Dam underwent a catastrophic failure, and for a brief period the Roaring River let the world know how it got its name. Damages topped $30 million, which ultimately had to be absorbed by businesses and individuals. 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. An alluvial fan quickly formed at the mouth of Roaring River. But the worst, the absolute gut-wrenching worst, was in the lower half of the Big Thompson Canyon. Lacking that, Estes Park instead employed a hero, in the form of ordinarily mild-mannered Stephen Gillette, working for A-1 Trash Service at the time, whose prompt actions saved tens if not hundreds of lives. There it dropped its load of boulders and debris and created an alluvial fan of over 40 acres. [2] There had been issues reported during inspections in 1951, 1975, 1977 and 1978. I remember all of the news on TV and reading accounts in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. Teresa Graham, 10, from the Cedar Cove area of the Big Thompson Canyon. So he brought a group of business people together, about 20 of us, and formed the foundation to educate the public and our town fathers., The foundation named Rosener, then 33, as its president and commissioned a study by the University of Colorado Boulder business school that said what we already knew was happening., A presentation at Crags Lodge that followed release of the study drew about 135 people, and then-Mayor Harry Tregent told Rosener, This a very impressive day of education, but you do know its not going anywhere. Jun 15, 2022 Updated Jun 15, 2022. High Plains Bank began doing business in Longmont a decade ago, providing personal banking at its best. In all, over 150 businesses were severely damaged, with shops on the south side of Elkhorn hit especially hard, their floors, shelves, sidewalks, storage closets, sub-basements, and nearby parking areas acquiring the taste and smell of mud-caked garbage dumps. Floods are an interest I have given our unusual weather patterns that can change in minutes. Campers at Aspen Glen Campground, just downstream of the Cascade Reservoir dam, were warned in time to evacuate. My brother and sister and I were guided by a family friend (Cecil Hinshaw) who also took us up Longs Peak via the cable route on the North Face now a technical route after the removal of the cables. The State Engineer performed an investigation and issued a report 8 months following the failure. The flood went out the east end of Horseshoe Park, filled and then overtopped a 17-foot-high concrete dam called Cascade Dam. The Big Thompson River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 78 miles (123 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado.Originating in Forest Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, the river flows into Lake Estes in the town of Estes Park and then through Big Thompson Canyon. Aug. 3, 1976. At the other end of the canyon, even then, it was hard to convince anyone to change course. Given that the campground had been evacuated by the Park Service, its highly likely that the death toll would have been much higherif Stephen Gillette hadnt set out on his route an hour earlier than usual that day. Below Horseshoe Park was the Cascade Dam. The peak flow was approximately 20,000 cfs. After dropping 2500 vertical feet over 4.5 miles, the flood poured out into Horseshoe Park a relatively flat basin. He quickly backed toward the entrance, pulling his truck across the road to prevent a Michigan tourist from entering the lot. July 15, 1982. I got up and went and walked my dog, and thats how little hurry I was in. 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. With the 39th anniversary of one of Estes Parks biggest disasters approaching on July 15, 2021, this video footage of news reports published by Nick Molle Productions / Rocky Mountain Channel is a stark reminder of the devastation caused by the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. It eroded areas up to 50 feet deep. They combine IV Hydration and nutritional therapy with You dont have to live with a sore, stiff neck. 10:30 p.m.: A wave of water nearly 20 feet tall squeezes its way through the Big Thompson Canyon, destroying everything in its path. The silence was awful, the noises awful, the only glimpses of real danger provided, strobe-like, by intermittent flashes of lightning. 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. Water buoyed homes. As a consequence of the dam failure, aging dams at Pear Reservoir, Bluebird Lake and Sandbeach Lake in the park were demolished and removed. Chris, thank you for this short but informative story on the Lawn Lake Flood. Now we have the riverwalk, we have park benches, we have new lighting. 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].
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