The emergency alerts you get today, warning of potential flash floods, were created in the aftermath of one of Colorado’s deadliest disasters ever. 47 years ago this week, the state was just beginning to come to grips with the losses and devastating damage of the Big Thompson Canyon flood, that hit on the last night of July, 1976…
(Learn From Big Thompson wrap :43)
More than 140 people died in that flooding, and hundreds more had to be rescued by helicopter. Today’s Larimer County Emergency Management Director Lori Hodges tells us the devastation back then really changed how Colorado prepares for natural disasters…
230802 Lori Hodges on today after Big Thompson :13 Q:…in that flooding…
The National Weather Service says you can see the difference the creation of those warnings made, in September of 2013. That was another time of major Colorado flooding… but only 9 people were killed by those waters, from Boulder to Colorado Springs. The Weather Service says stronger emergency alerts and more accurate warnings than were possible in 1976 definitely saved lives.