24 dead in Texas floods and more than 20 children missing from a girls summer camp

[Mary Stetler]

Photos: 47 years ago, 144 died in one of Colorado’s deadliest natural disasters - written in 2023​

DENVER (KDVR) — Aug. 1 is celebrated as Colorado Day, the day it earned its statehood. But 47 years ago, ahead of the state’s 100th birthday, Colorado experienced one of its deadliest natural disasters.

On the evening of July 31, 1976, hours before Colorado’s 100th birthday, a stationary thunderstorm released a deluge of rain in the upper part of the Big Thompson River drainage.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the Big Thompson flood became one of the state’s deadliest and costliest disasters.

The National Weather Service said that an estimated 2,500 to 3,500 people drove to the area to stay in one of Colorado’s most scenic spots to celebrate 100 years of Colorado. On the afternoon of July 31, heavy rain fell over the 70-square-mile region from 6:30-11 p.m.

The heaviest rainfall, between 12 and 14 inches, fell on the western side of the canyon. Water levels rose quickly and raged through the canyon corridor, according to NWS. The flood lasted through the early morning of Aug. 1, 1976.

According to USGS, 144 people died in the flood, and many were campers staying along the river. The flood also destroyed 418 homes, 52 businesses, numerous bridges, paved and unpaved roads and power and telephone lines. U.S. 34 was washed out as 10-foot-wide boulders were carried down the river.

Damages cost an estimated $39 million.

In the days since the Big Thompson flood, USGS continues to conduct research and operate a nationwide network to help understand and predict the likelihood of floods such as this one.

According to NWS, the deadliest flood on record was in June 1921 when the Arkansas River flooded in Pueblo. Because of the swelling of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, the entire greater business district of Pueblo was flooded with water 10 feet deep.

While the number is uncertain, researchers estimated as many as 1,500 people died in the flood.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/big-thompson-flood-1976-colorado/

So, 1976 and 1921 floods. Pueblo and Big Thompson canyon are in the same state but very far apart geographically, in very different kinds of areas and in different times. Climate change?

Here’s another story on Big Thompson - written in 2016

40 years later: Scores killed in Big Thompson Flood

A year's worth of rain fell in 70 minutes

www.coloradoan.com

If anyone looks at it you should be able to read it even though it asks for a subscription.

The week after I bought my farm our area had a '100 year flood'. The last one was in 1927 when the lake water came up about 40 streets.
I watched in horror as My recently purchased farm waited as the creek overflowed into my pond which rose up to my first pasture fence, which was high ground. The water did not make it to the house but I chewed my nails down to the knuckles.
This year is just keeps raining. I can't get my hay off, my garden is lost but I keep planting--this week,winter squash which likes heat and wet. My alternate hay source said he would hold hay for me but I can't pick it up yet because it is too wet to get to his storage barn. It is last year's hay which guarantees it won't be moldy. and That's ok cuz my sheep need to graze down the pasture.

 

[Susannah]

The week after I bought my farm our area had a '100 year flood'. The last one was in 1927 when the lake water came up about 40 streets.
I watched in horror as My recently purchased farm waited as the creek overflowed into my pond which rose up to my first pasture fence, which was high ground. The water did not make it to the house but I chewed my nails down to the knuckles.
This year is just keeps raining. I can't get my hay off, my garden is lost but I keep planting--this week,winter squash which likes heat and wet. My alternate hay source said he would hold hay for me but I can't pick it up yet because it is too wet to get to his storage barn. It is last year's hay which guarantees it won't be moldy. and That's ok cuz my sheep need to graze down the pasture.

We’re having a lot wetter year here too following a long stretch of drier than normal years. Maybe some have forgotten about flood years but you never forget them when you go through one like you did with your farm. I hope you’ll be able to get your dry hay without any problem, Mary.

Nancy, if I had been a parent with a child in that camp I would have supported the no cell phone policy never thinking of a flood. Parents want times and activities that get their children away from screens.

It rained during the wee hours when people were asleep and the flood hit while most were still asleep. Many adults from houses and RV parks were washed away and drowned too. Who could the kids have called that could have come to the campgrounds and evacuated them in time?

In this morning’s news conference they talked about first responders out on the roads as the flood was beginning honking their horns constantly, stopping and knocking, doing whatever they could to rouse people. The officers made it clear to reporters this morning that they had to be polite.

 

[Nancy Hart]

As far as I can tell, the only early flash flood warnings they could get were through cell phone alerts. Unless the counselors were allowed a phone, I doubt they could even contact the next cabin. With 750 phones someone would have noticed the warning at 1:14 am. And if anyone got separated, they couldn't even call for help. Any normal camp, fine. Not this one with the history of this valley.

 

[Susannah]

In your post you referenced a no cellphone policy for campers so that’s what I was replying to. Counselors probably did have cellphones. Has it been reported if they tried to call for help or if anyone at the camp was warned by someone outside the camp? I do remember seeing that the owner of one of the camps was trying to evacuate campers when he lost his life but I don’t know how he found out there was a flood. There will be lawsuits and changes. It may take a long time.

Yesterday there was a flash flood in Ruidoso N.M. Two small children and some adults died, buildings and vehicles were washed away but it was not on the same scale as TX.

 

[Don Alaska]

In your post you referenced a no cellphone policy for campers so that’s what I was replying to. Counselors probably did have cellphones. Has it been reported if they tried to call for help or if anyone at the camp was warned by someone outside the camp? I do remember seeing that the owner of one of the camps was trying to evacuate campers when he lost his life but I don’t know how he found out there was a flood. There will be lawsuits and changes. It may take a long time.

Yesterday there was a flash flood in Ruidoso N.M. Two small children and some adults died, buildings and vehicles were washed away but it was not on the same scale as TX.

In the "No cell phones or electronics" camping situations I have been on, the ban did not apply to the leaders. Not just floods but any number of emergencies--medical and otherwise--can occur. In this day and age, not being able to call in emergency assistance is not a good thing.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Yes, the leaders had cell phones. What they may or may not have had was cell service. My kids used to beg Cindy and I to let them go to this camp outside of Eureka called Blue Slide. The camps leaders had cell phones, but they had to leave the camp to use them. Even now you would have to drive 2.5 miles to get cell service. And when my kids were young, they didn't even have a landline phone, but at least they have one now.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

There are at least 13 dirrerent states that are having serious flooding right now. North Carolina is badly flooding again, as well as New Mexico, Missouri, and several other states.
We have a warning for more storm tomorrow, and it actually covers of half of the country, pretty much all of the eastern United States. It is not showing a serious threat everywhere, but this is still a huge area of the country to be under a warning all at the same time.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

My Great Grandfather built several progressively larger cabins for his family back in the 1800s. He passed the skill on to his son, and my Mom used to tell me about how he always chose land on high ground to build on.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I suspect that many factors are in play, from solar activity to land use changes and bungled weather modification efforts. Then you have China's disregard for belching things into the air completely indiscriminately, not to mention India with things like emissions from overuse of fertilizers. And don't forget the wildfires, which probably goes right back to land management failings.

I found this interesting:

Why America Built A Forest From Canada To Texas

How many of those trees have been lost due to neglect and industrial-scale ag exploitation?

 

[Mary Stetler]

In your post you referenced a no cellphone policy for campers so that’s what I was replying to. Counselors probably did have cellphones. Has it been reported if they tried to call for help or if anyone at the camp was warned by someone outside the camp? I do remember seeing that the owner of one of the camps was trying to evacuate campers when he lost his life but I don’t know how he found out there was a flood. There will be lawsuits and changes. It may take a long time.

Yesterday there was a flash flood in Ruidoso N.M. Two small children and some adults died, buildings and vehicles were washed away but it was not on the same scale as TX.

I saw they were warning of flash floods maybe 3 days ahead. But with all weather reports warning of one thing or another these days, the warnings were taken with a grain of salt. The rains happening heavily at night caused the disaster.

 

[Mary Stetler]

There are at least 13 dirrerent states that are having serious flooding right now. North Carolina is badly flooding again, as well as New Mexico, Missouri, and several other states.
We have a warning for more storm tomorrow, and it actually covers of half of the country, pretty much all of the eastern United States. It is not showing a serious threat everywhere, but this is still a huge area of the country to be under a warning all at the same time.

View attachment 881

Early on, this year I was worried because there were no bugs, not even mosquitoes, weird year. But with the incessant ,if not heavy rains, the mosquitoes have hatched en masse now. I guess I will wear my mosquito clothes from now on. I was missing one of my pullets tonite and went to see what had been her fate. I was swarmed by mosquitoes instantly. Back in the barn, Turns out she fell off her perch on the stall wall and could not fly back up. I heard her crying and opened the door for her. She is not very smart and could have just ducked under the door. But she is still pretty much just a baby.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Why America Built A Forest From Canada To Texas

How many of those trees have been lost due to neglect and industrial-scale ag exploitation?

Sadly, almost all of them!

Before the Industrial Revolution, America was about 50% forest land, mostly in the east. Now, after the east is getting ever closer to wall to wall city, it is the opposite. The majority of forest land is in the west. Fortunately, the vast majority of American forests have not been logged like the Coast Redwoods in California. Coast Redwoods (Sequoia Sempervirens) are native to California's Coast, originally found in a narrow, 50 mile or so wide strip of land, from about Big Sur, California in the south to just over the Oregon border in the north. Where there were once over 2,000,000 acres of Coast Redwoods, there is less than 5% of old growth remaining. Why? Logging to near extinction. Fortunately, loggers never had much interest in Giant Sequoias.

My point? The Dust Bowl was a man-made disaster. There would have been no need to plant a forest from Canada to Texas, if the one that was already there was not systematically removed in the name of progress.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

I just realized I left out a huge part of what I was trying to say, and I wrote some incorrect information. Yes, the Dust Bowl was a man-made disaster, but the area that later became known as the Dust Bowl was grasslands, not forests. That area was part of the 50% of what became America that was not forest land. And while there were areas between Canada and Texas that had forest land, it was not in the area of the Dust Bowl. But many areas east and west of the Dust Bowl were heavily logged.

I guess this if further proof I should not try to write an intelligent post when I'm tired.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Early on, this year I was worried because there were no bugs, not even mosquitoes, weird year. But with the incessant ,if not heavy rains, the mosquitoes have hatched en masse now. I guess I will wear my mosquito clothes from now on. I was missing one of my pullets tonite and went to see what had been her fate. I was swarmed by mosquitoes instantly. Back in the barn, Turns out she fell off her perch on the stall wall and could not fly back up. I heard her crying and opened the door for her. She is not very smart and could have just ducked under the door. But she is still pretty much just a baby.

On the topic of mosquitoes, this is what is happening here, too, @Mary Stetler . We have had a lot of rain this year, and lots of mosquitoes also. I read that original Jergens Lotion, the one we all loved with the cherry almond fragrance, is supposed to repel mosquitoes, so I got a small bottle to try and see if it actually helps. I love the smell, in any case.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I guess this if further proof I should not try to write an intelligent post when I'm tired.

Maybe, but I got your meaning. That belt planted under FDR wasn't natural at all, but it may well have helped and likely didn't hurt. It was not continuous, dense, and deep.

I get the idea that it's all but gone now though, mainly to clear the way for those giant circular fields there today.

 

[Don Alaska]

Maybe, but I got your meaning. That belt planted under FDR wasn't natural at all, but it may well have helped and likely didn't hurt. It was not continuous, dense, and deep.

I get the idea that it's all but gone now though, mainly to clear the way for those giant circular fields there today.

My father-in-law, who grew up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and relocated to Iowa later, always said it broke his heart to see the farmers remove the trees to make way for bigger tractors and equipment. The topsoil would blow and lead to Black Snow during the winter if they did fall plowing. Friends from North Carolina, when visiting Iowa, said they couldn't understand why all the farm fields were burned. It turns out they had never seen black topsoil before. Iowa and areas of Ukraine have the richest soil in the world.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Found this picture online and wanted to share it. These people lost their little dog in the Texas flooding and couldn’t find her. When they went back to their home again, this is what they found.
You can see that the water was so deep that even on the top shelf, the poor little Sweetie was still sitting in water.

 

[Susannah]

I’m glad she made it. There are a lot of pet rescue groups down there from all over the country. So many displaced animals.

It’s been raining again.

 

[Marie Mallory]

The week after I bought my farm our area had a '100 year flood'. The last one was in 1927 when the lake water came up about 40 streets.
I watched in horror as My recently purchased farm waited as the creek overflowed into my pond which rose up to my first pasture fence, which was high ground. The water did not make it to the house but I chewed my nails down to the knuckles.
This year is just keeps raining. I can't get my hay off, my garden is lost but I keep planting--this week,winter squash which likes heat and wet. My alternate hay source said he would hold hay for me but I can't pick it up yet because it is too wet to get to his storage barn. It is last year's hay which guarantees it won't be moldy. and That's ok cuz my sheep need to graze down the pasture.

Mary, I didn't realize how much of a farmer you were, hope the rains stay at bay for you.

 

[Marie Mallory]

My father-in-law, who grew up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and relocated to Iowa later, always said it broke his heart to see the farmers remove the trees to make way for bigger tractors and equipment. The topsoil would blow and lead to Black Snow during the winter if they did fall plowing. Friends from North Carolina, when visiting Iowa, said they couldn't understand why all the farm fields were burned. It turns out they had never seen black topsoil before. Iowa and areas of Ukraine have the richest soil in the world.

What makes the soil so rich in Iowa and Ukraine? Don, if I knew I forgot.