Starting on June 3 and stretching for several days, the Great Pueblo Flood of 1921 was one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever take place in Colorado. As a slow moving storm with heavy rains filled canyons and low-lying areas surrounding this southern Colorado city, a huge amount of water would ultimately travel down Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, hitting the city of 42,000 residents where the two flows converged and sweeping away an estimated 600 homes, causing $20 million in damages (about $331 million today ).
While the scene was documented via photography and has been studied in-depth over the years, one big question remains – how many people did the Great Pueblo Flood of 1921 kill?
Estimates vary wildly when it comes to the death toll resulting from the flood. In a 2021 report from the National Weather Service, the organization states that “a few hundred fatalities occurred as people were swept down the river by the rushing torrents of water,” going on to state that because many bodies were never recovered, “the exact death toll is unknown.”…