Big Thompson River
The Big Thompson River in Viestenz - Smith Park
Big Thompson River in Moraine Valley Park in Rocky Mountain National Park
Sign in Viestenz -Smith Park, which indicates the maximum height of the Big Thompson River flood, as well as the flood destroyed turbines of the hydroelectric plant
The Big Thompson River is an approximately 126 km long left tributary of the South Platte River in the County 's Weld County and Larimer County in the state of Colorado in the United States.
Course
The times also referred to as Pipe River River, which is fed by two arms, has its source region in the Front Range, part of the Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County. The northern arm springs from the northern slope of the Mummy Range. It flows through the city of Glen Haven in an easterly direction and reached after approximately 13 kilometers south-east of the city Drake. The southern branch rises in the Forest Canyon, it flows east through the valley of Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park through the city, where it is dammed to Lake Estes. After it has passed the Olympus Dam, it flows through the Big Thompson Canyon, which combines both river arms in Drake.
After the Big Thompson River has left the Big Thompson Canyon, he reached the city of Loveland at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. He then crossed the Great Plains in the direction Greeley, joins the Little Thompson River before it flows about 8 kilometers south of Greeley in the South Platte River.
The water management of the Big Thompson River is the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District as part of the Colorado - Big Thompson Project, a major project for the use of natural water resources in Colorado, carried out.
The Big Thompson Canyon flood of 1976
On 31 July 1976, the Big Thompson Canyon was hit by a tidal wave of the Big Thompson River, which was caused by a relatively stationary thunderstorm near. During this storm fell locally within about 4 hours up to 300 millimeters of rain. This is more than three-quarters of the annual mean precipitation in the region. To 21 clock, the water level in the river rose to a height of about 6 meters, the water flowing at a rate of about 6 meters per second valley. At this time the flow had a discharge rate of up to 1000 m³ per second, four times more than before recorded history. A total of 143 people were killed by the tsunami, five of them were never found again, 400 cars and 418 houses were destroyed. Furthermore, the parallel to the river running U.S. Highway 34 was destroyed in many areas due to the flood and boulders. In that day also destroyed Viestenz -Smith Park, a popular destination east of Drake, are still the ruins of the former hydroelectric plant and the generators to be seen. In the plant, electric current on the banks of the Big Thompson River has been produced since 1925 up to the flood. The park has now been rebuilt, the power plant is not.