Forty Years Ago This Week: Just after 6 a.m. on July 15, 1982, the Lawn Lake Dam above Estes Park experienced a “catastrophic failure,” causing 30 million cubic feet of water to tear through the landscape, headed directly toward the town of Estes Park. After merging with the Cascade Dam and Fall River, five to six feet of mud and water poured into the town, damaging 177 Estes Park businesses – over 90% of the commercial structures – and causing more than $31 million in damages and the deaths of three people.