Colorado summers should be about fun and the outdoors. The summer of 1976, when I was nine (my brother 6,) saw Loveland as a base for rescue operations after the massive flash flood swept down the Big Thompson Canyon, killing 144.
There are so many stories about the ’76 flood. I know of a story where a man had to watch is family be swept away in their station wagon and there was nothing he could do; one of his children perished. The story of Colorado State Trooper Willis Hugh Purdy and his final call to dispatch is haunting. That officer helped to save many people before being a victim, himself.
Young Loveland Boy Grows up to Be Local Radio Air Talent
There’s nobody here at our radio stations that lived in the area back then. Though young, I remember the sense of fear and sorrow that the adults had. I remember the chinook helicopters flying over a friend of the family’s house (they lived near the Kmart) on their way up the canyon, and being mesmerized.
A friend reminded me that the Olympics were going on during that time frame; he recalled he and his own brother “playing Olympics” in the yard on the day of the tragedy…