Colorado Experience: Big Thompson Flood

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 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 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.

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.

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.

I moved to Colorado in 1987, and you could still see the tremendous damage that the Big Thompson flood had caused to the valley.

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.

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.

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!

Lived in Ft. Collins in ‘76. I’ll never forget the magnitude of the storms that night.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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..

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 YouTube 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.

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😊