The Big Thompson Flood of Nineteen Seventy Six
Near Estes Park, Colorado
The Big Thompson River flowing through Estes Park looks gentle most of the year. But on the last night of July, nineteen seventy six, it became the deadliest flash flood in Colorado history. That evening a thunderstorm stalled over the mountains just below town and refused to move.
It dumped an astonishing amount of rain, as much as twelve to fourteen inches near Estes Park, including seven and a half inches in a single hour. All that water funneled into the narrow walls of the Big Thompson Canyon downstream. It was a holiday weekend, with thousands of people camping in the canyon to celebrate Colorado's one hundredth anniversary of statehood.
Around nine at night, a wall of water more than twenty feet high roared down the canyon at roughly thirteen miles per hour. It swept away cars, homes, businesses, and the highway itself, giving people almost no warning. At least one hundred forty four people were killed, and more than two hundred fifty were injured.
The disaster changed how Colorado thinks about flash floods, and you will still see signs in the canyon today reminding drivers that in a flood, they should climb to safety and abandon their cars. The river remembers, even when it looks calm.
