CHEYENNE, Wyo.—The flash flooding that occurred in the Medicine Bow National Forest last week, killing four members of a Colorado family, isn’t uncommon in the mountains, official say.
Mike Weiland, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Monday that terrain, amount of rain and melting snow can all play into whether a mountain creek quickly turns into a roaring river.
“Every situation is a little bit different,” Weiland said. “There’s a lot of variables that go into it.”
A flash flood last week washed out a 25-foot-wide, 9-foot-deep section of Wyoming 130. A camper van with a Colorado family fleeing a nearby campground in the middle of the night on July 19 drove into the breach.
Laurel Constantinides, 38, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and daughters Hannah, 8, Zoe, 5, and Lucia, 2, drowned. Alex Constantinides, 39, survived and was found stranded on rocks. He was treated and released from a hospital that day.
A second vehicle also drove into the breach and plunged into the creek. The driver, John Zeiger, Carbon County emergency coordinator, was responding to a report that a vehicle had gone into the creek. He was released from Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Friday night, hospital spokeswoman Kathy Baker said.
South Brush Creek, which ran under the highway, was already running high from melting snow. In addition, it rained in the area a couple of days before, Weiland said.
When over an inch of rain fell in one hour late at night on July 18, the creek became a raging river.
Weiland says people camping in the mountains should be aware of conditions that exist and whether heavy rain is forecast in choosing their campsite.
“There are some clues that you can see: if the water is already kind of high; you can tell if ground is kind of moist or dry,” he said. “If you see those kinds of clues, you should be thinking if there is going to be a rain event it could produce a flash flood.
“So in those cases you might want to camp in perhaps a different place than where you might otherwise, especially if you hear the forecast there’s a chance of thunderstorms.”
Anglers can normally safely wade into South Brush Creek at this time of year, said Homer Beach, fire chief of the Ryan Park Division of the Carbon County Fire Department, which rescued Constantinides and Zeiger.
But it is not unusual for a downpour to quickly turn trickling mountain creeks and streams into monstrous rivers that sweep people away to their deaths.
“It happens a lot more than people would think,” Beach said. “A lot of times it doesn’t affect anything.”
In July 1976, more than 140 people were killed after a downpour caused a flash flood on the Big Thompson River in northern Colorado.
After a memorial service for the family at St. Patrick’s Church in Colorado Springs on Monday, Marlis Slater, a friend of Alex Constantinides, read a statement of thanks.
Slater said the couple were guided by a Chinese folk story when they decided to adopt their three daughters, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported. In the story, an elephant laughs at a hummingbird for trying to hold up the sky, and the hummingbird says, “I cannot hold up the sky alone, but each must do what he can, and this is what I can do.”
“To all those who have shared your love, strength and prayers with our family at this time, we thank you. Because of you, we know that we are not holding up the sky alone,” Slater said.
