The Fort Collins flash flood of July 28, 1997.

"Service assessment initial report"

On July 27, 1997, rainfall began across the northern Colorado front range. The rainfall continued for more than 30 hours causing numerous streams to become swollen with runoff water. The persistent rain and local topography set the stage for the Fort Collins' July 28, flash flood event which devastated a mobile home park on Spring Creek at College Avenue where 4 deaths occurred, and also resulted in one flood death east of the mobile home park. The urban flooding caused considerable flood damage in buildings on the Colorado State University campus as well as heighborhoods west of the university. The scope of the assessment was designed to understand the meteorological and hydrological environment leading up to the Fort Collins flash flood episode, to assess services and products provided by the NWSFO Denver office, to understand Fort Collins community preparedness, to understand the communication technology that supported the preparation and distribution of NWS services and products, and to evaluate the effectiveness of warning dissemination systems communicating the alarm to those who were in harm's way