July 31, 1976 Colorado :: essays research papers

On July 31, 1976, a violent rain coerce hit the sector where the Big Thompson Canyon is located. According to reports the rainfall was falling at an frighten rate of 2 per hour which caused the Big Thompson river to rise and return to its aboriginal state. This all began when winds from the east pushed very humid air up the mountains. The wonky air continued rising as its body of water vapor condensed. The winds were little than 20 mph above 10,000 feet that was too weak to move the storm away. Humid high-altitude air combining with weak winds meant the storm pulled into little change air to weaken the rainfall. Hardly any of the rain soaked into the steep-sided canon. The river right away went over its banks, filled with debris that acted like battering rams against downstream buildings and cars. The water then backed up in the canyons peg mouth, in violent streams, water often backs up as debris loads against bridges. The Floodwater sped up as it squeezed through narro w places was freed when the dam that was formed by debris burst loose. Due to these events, occurring in such a picayune time the U.S. Army came to rescue 850 people off the tops of homes, canyon walls, and rocks. The flood destroyed 556 homes and 52 businesses. The total damage was $35.5 million to the theatre of operations it cost $1 million dollars to remove 320, 450 tons of debris. The storm and flood caused the Big Thompson River to change course in thirty places. The flood killed receipts people and it took the authorities working until mid-September to identify all the bodies. The town entangle that most of the deaths occurred due to the lack of a timely warning. To prevent this from accident again they installed a reverse 911 emergency system.