Word: canyonized
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...devastation was so complete that even after a week of rescue work, nobody knew for sure how much damage had been caused when a torrential downpour sent a flash flood raging down the canyon, 40 miles north of Denver. The disaster struck on the centennial of Colorado's entry into the U.S., and it was certainly the most stunning in the state's history. Some communities virtually disappeared, and the loss was estimated at $50 million...
Some bodies were easy to find: they dangled grotesquely from trees, protruded from shoals, or were wedged into crevices high up on the canyon wall. But the waters had hidden corpses everywhere. Others were found in corn-and hayfields near Loveland, eight miles beyond the canyon's mouth. One body was carried 25 miles to Greeley. At week's end the death total was nearing 100. But, incredibly, more than 800 people were still missing six days after the flood-the most graphic illustration of the power of the water that had cascaded down from the mountains...
Cooling Vapor. The Big Thompson River canyon had long been a very special place for Colorado residents and tourists alike. Situated on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, the canyon starts at about 7,500 ft. In a stretch of 25 miles, moving eastward from the Continental Divide, it descends some 2,000 ft. The walls of the canyon tower over what used to be a pleasant trout stream sparkling in the depths below. The canyon was not unspoiled, but neither was it ruined by money: the big, Aspen-style condominiums had been kept away, and most...
...very worried. Such clouds are normally dispersed by strong 30-to-40-m.p.h. winds blowing easterly across the Rockies. But this time, a nearly stagnant cold front lay over the peaks. As the dark clouds rose over a cul-de-sac at Estes Park, far up in the canyon, they collided with the mass of cold air. The cooling vapor began to condense into drops. At 6 p.m. it began to rain on the high eastern slopes of the Continental Divide. Nobody could have predicted that in the next six nightmarish hours, 14 in. would fall-as much...
...National Weather Service in Denver warned of severe thunderstorms and noted the possibility of flooding. Shortly thereafter, County Sheriff Bob Watson began to worry about the campers and residents in the Big Thompson canyon. At about 8:30 p.m. two of his deputies and two state patrolmen started trying to persuade people to move out. Most of them stayed put, pointing out that it was not even raining where they were. "We had trouble convincing them that the river was even coming up," says Watson. "They'd want to know if it was coming up to here," (he touched...