"I was there along with three of my friends on the night of the flood. We are from Missouri and had went camping at the KOA campground by the dam just before the canyon starts. We lost our tent and some belongings in the first wave of rain and was later told to go into Estes Park for the night. We were unaware what was happening just a mile or 2 from us as all communication had been cut off. It was a event I will never forget."

--Bob Carter

"I was a child of 12 at the time of the big Thompson Flood we were camping at the St. Vrain campgrounds. I recall my mother out cooking over a campfire making popcorn of all things that rainy night before. The next morning when we woke the bankks of the river were overflowing and our supplies in the river to keep cold had floated some ways down stream. Next thing I remember we were heading down the mountain as fast as we could."

--Lisa

"I was a junior in college. Three buddies and I worked at a popular restaurant that rested nearly on the edge of the dammed up lake. That summer we had decided to live in Estes Park rather than in the canyon as we had the summer earlier. That Saturday afternoon I had off and had driven Highway 34 to Fort Collins. Driving back west to Estes, I had noticed how crowded the canyon was- knowing it was a huge weekend in Estes Park because of the centennial and bicentennial celebrations. After working at "The Yum Yum Hut" for about an hour, my boss, Mr. Pabst, looked out and said one heck of a storm was coming. It rained so hard that we could not see the motel some 60 feet away. Then there was a deadly pause for about a half an hour and we stepped out as no one was at the restaurant. My boss commented that this was strange as the clouds were quickly reversing tracks and moving to the west. Once again- tremendous rain. At about 8:30 we closed but listened to a short wave radio broadcast in the canyon in which people were screaming for ropes. We really had no idea what was going on. At about 9:30 I was driving home up on Olympia Lane just on the east edge of Estes Park and I came to a sudden stop. There was a 20 foot deep, 30 foot wide hole in the middle of the road. I knew then that this was a strange incident. The next morning, Sunday, I got called into work in the morning shift- many of the morning workers were unable to get to work. I distinctly remember an Estes Park policeman coming in and I asked what kind of damage there was in the canyon. He sort of rolled his eyes and said, "bad!" I asked him what he meant and he said "Lots of death." He went on to say a temporary morgue was set up in Loveland. We all felt shock at that point. As the morning rolled on, more reports came in- this was huge- national news!! I suddenly came to the shocking realization I had to get a hold of my parents. Many tourists had said that national news reported that all this tragedy had occurred in Estes Park. They would be worried sick. Even more so, since I had lost tragically a brother to a car accident just two months earlier. My minor miracle was that I drove 25 miles to find a phone line. I was able to get through and had discovered they had just (30 seconds earlier) turned on the television and heard the news. They suffered only 30 seconds of fear. I will always remember that day. Estes Park which was a mecca in a sense to me, had suffered greatly as tourists had abandoned the small town in droves. It was a ghost town when it should have been at the absolute height of activity."

--Anonymous

"I lived in the lower canyon just before the Narrows on a plot of land that was built in 1897 and was the original site of the stage station in the canyon before the Narrows Canyon was compleated with HY 34. It went back to the 1890's that night and took out all the road and was helpless to see people cars and houses swept into the canyon narrows and certain death, I was working with Loveland Amb company then and was truck driver My wife then and kid had taken a trip to the Glenwood and thought that my wife being afraid of Big storms may have turned around and went home it was 2 weeks before we had comminicaton and whre sure all where alright. In the mean time I kept busy with rescue efforts and retiving the dead. The official count was around 135 or so but there where more that just were not ID'd or were transit in the area as hundreds of turists were in the area at that time. Other than my wartime duty it was the most tragic duty I served for the time. It tooks months to recover and some of us did not. But glad to be alive.

Best regards to all. From Gary Jr., Sabrina, and Ex wife Dot. to all the Amb Crew we new and worked with."

--Capt Gary Evans

"The Big Thompson Flood is still a very tragic memory for me as our family cabin was destroyed, our next-door neighbors were killed as were friends and an employee of my father's company.

On July 31, 2024 a friend and I spent the day at my family's cabin in Glen Haven, enjoying the nice weather and celebrating Colorado's 100th anniversary. Late that afternoon we decided to go to Estes Park and get a pizza. After we ate, we noticed the intense cloudy skies to the North (over Glen Haven) and decided to drive back home to Greeley instead of going back to the cabin.

That decision saved our lives, but it should be noted that our decision to leave for Greeley was not based on fear of the clouds, instead we were 17 years old at the time and the thought of going to a movie in Greeley sounded better than staying at my cabin in the rain. The flood hit our cabin and destroyed it merely hours after we left.

I returned to the Big Thompson Canyon two days later and helped with the search for victims, retrieved what little was left of our belongings, but mainly removed silt from many homes and lent a hand to neighbors in their cleanup.

I would like to mention that there is a bronze sculpture and memorial area in the Canyon, it is located about a mile east of the Town of Drake. I highly recommend visiting this memorial, it helps with the healing process."

--Anonymous

"I was 12, and my family lived in Loveland in July 1976. My parents had picked me up from Meadow Mountain Girl Scout Camp that morning. We went south a bit from there to pick up my favorite cousin, Julie, who was going to spend the rest of the summer break with us.

After we picked up Julie, we travelled down Highway 34, planning to stop for a picnic at Viestenz-Smith park (which was much more rustic then). It had started to sprinkle, I think, and Mom and Dad decided to head on to Loveland and treat us kids to dinner out instead.

Julie and I were going to sleep out in the camper in our driveway for fun, but she got upset and didn't want to stay there because as we had left the house she had heard on the TV that Loveland was being flooded. We were not near the river anymore, but we were kids and didn't make that connection. My parents calmed us down, but we still slept inside.

The next day our phone began ringing off the hook. The first lists of missing and dead had been published. I was listed as "missing", so family members were freaked! My aunt and uncle were, of course, wondering if Julie had been with me. It took three days to get my name off that list. I always assumed that it had something to do with the girl scout camp, but I don't know how my name got there. It was and is sobering, though, to think how different things could have been had we stayed in the canyon too long.

My mother, a registered nurse, was called in to help with the victims. Some people killed and injured were emergency response people whom she knew well. McKee Medical Center had just opened, but she and others were sent back to Loveland Memorial Hospital, which became a temporary morgue. (I've heard the building is now a school administration building. ) Some of the reports over the following days were, to say the least, horrifying. One that stands out in my mind was a report of a "torso" in the river. Body parts were apparently a common find as the river level dropped. Many were found on the floodplains near the fairground, as I recall.

At first officials called it a 100-year flood, but later they said it was a 10, 000-year flood. I don't know which it really is, but once every 10, 000 years is too often as far as I'm concerned."

--D

"My family arrived on Saturday and checked into Sleepy Hollow cabins. I was 9 years old. We had driven all night from Iowa and decided to get ready for bed early. At about 7:15pm, my father told my mother he was uncomfortable going to bed with all this heavy rain. Mom opened the back door of our cabin and couldn't see anything. She got out the flashlight, and found the river at our door. It should've been 30 feet away. We opened the front door to seek out the manager. She was at the cabin next door and said, "I don't know what is happening, but we have to get out. " I took off. Our car was already 3-4 feet under water.

I ran 200 feet and up a 6 foot ditch to the road. My father followed moments later. My mother, brother, and brother's friend came a minute later. I ran in ankle deep water. It was knee high on my father. And, it was waste to chest high on my mom and brother. It was pitch black. I headed up the road to the right. Had I gone left, the road was already under water. I truly believe God got us out of the cabin that night. All of our decisions were the right ones at the very last moment."

--Lisa Wycoff