Fatal Larimer County flood caused by 20-minute downpour on burn scar
The area where a flash flood killed two people in Larimer County on Friday received nearly an inch of rain in a short period of time, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Weather service meteorologist Frank Cooper said a gauge 3 to 4 miles northwest of Crystal Mountain received .91 inches of rain with .67 inches of that coming from 5 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. He said radar estimated higher amounts of rain in the area that includes the Cameron Peak Fire burn scar.
"The threshold for flash flooding is pretty low up there because of the soils in the burn scar,'' Cooper said. "One to two inches of rain in an hour is plenty sufficient to cause problems.''
Crystal Mountain above Buckhorn Road about 20 miles west of Fort Collins was heavily damaged by the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire.
The weather service listed the flooding threat for the burn scar as elevated Friday but the threat has been reduced to limited Saturday.
The Larimer County Office of Emergency Management is scheduled to assess damage to the Buckhorn and Crystal Mountain areas Saturday, including Buckhorn Road, which was extensively damaged in places. The road has been damaged several times since the Cameron Peak Fire, including while being rebuilt last year from damage suffered in the 2013 flood.
Multiple reports of flash flooding in the Crystal Mountain and Glen Haven areas started coming in around 5 p.m. Friday, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesperson David Moore told the Coloradoan Friday night. Included in those calls was the report of a camping trailer that had been washed away in the upper to middle section of Buckhorn Canyon with an adult woman and a female child inside. Both were found dead about 7:30 p.m.
More: 2 dead, 1 home destroyed in Buckhorn Canyon flooding Friday
A home in the 700 block of Granite Way was destroyed but all occupants were accounted for and no injuries occurred. Moore said as of late Friday night, it was believed all residents are able to get in and out of their homes, even if it's just by foot.
Friday's flooding and deaths come just five days short of a year when four people died in the Upper Poudre Canyon when a flash flood struck in similar fashion. That storm on the evening of July 20, 2021, also dumped a large amount of rain in a short period of time on the Cameron Peak Fire burn scar, turning narrow Black Hollow Creek into a torrent laden with boulders, trees and fire-charred soil that easily gave way.
The flood swept four members of the same family to their deaths, destroyed six homes and killed thousands of trout in the Poudre River.
Reporter Sady Swanson contributed to this story.
Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt.
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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fatal Larimer County flood caused by 20-minute downpour on burn scar
