At Least 11 Die in Wyoming Flash Flood : 7 Missing as Storm Soaks Cheyenne; Search for Bodies Continues

Rescuers searched a flooded creek for bodies and snow plows cleared hail from a main street Friday after the worst thunderstorm in memory sparked flash flooding and left at least 11 people dead and seven missing.

The victims included a sheriff’s deputy and a little girl he was trying to rescue. A woman and her two dogs were found dead in a basement. Police and county civil defense personnel were flooded out of their offices, and residents put on boots to walk gingerly over the marble-sized hail that piled up last Thursday night.

On Friday, rescue teams searched around Dry Creek, pulling victims from cars and trying to find owners of the empty vehicles in the creek bed. The Salvation Army geared up to provide emergency clothing and shelter.

“We’ve had a lot of calls,” Capt. Steve Owen said. “They’ve lost almost everything they have and don’t have anything to change into.”

Vehicles Floated Away

Water had receded by Friday morning but was still several feet deep in parking lots and Holliday Park. The previous night, streets had been filled with six feet of water, and rescue workers took to canoes to get around as cars and trucks floated away. Police had ordered residents off the street at 8 p.m.

“It happened so fast,” said Lois Nordberg, a north Cheyenne resident who climbed to her roof to avoid rising water.

“I was watching through the kitchen window and the water was flowing down the street,” she said. “I went into the living room and picked up a magazine and then I heard the sound of running water. I walked into the kitchen and there was water coming through the door. In five minutes, it was everywhere.”

Authorities started the day with 20 people on the list of missing, “and we’ve been finding them safe here and there. Hopefully, that will continue,” said Laramie County sheriff’s Lt. Dan Broyles.

Victims Caught in Cars

Eleven people were confirmed dead at midday Friday and seven were missing, Broyles said. Most of the victims drowned when they were caught in cars that were quickly submerged, Cheyenne Police Chief Byron Rookstool said.

“It just kept coming and coming, harder and harder. I’ve lived here 25 years and have never seen it rain that hard, that long,” said Jim Thomas of Western Ranchman Outfitters, a downtown business.

“The kind of storm we had is a once-in-a-100- or 200-year thing,” said Bill Parker of the National Weather Service.

A severe thunderstorm watch was issued again Friday. And the weather service forecast a 60% chance of damaging winds, large hail, heavy rain and dangerous lightning.

Hail Blocked Streets

In less than four hours, beginning about 6 p.m. Thursday, a slow-moving storm dumped six inches of rain, half the usual annual precipitation. Six inches of hail fell, but the rain pushed it into eight-foot drifts that blocked streets in one area. The previous record for a 24-hour period in Cheyenne was 4.7 inches on July 15, 1896, weather forecaster Christopher Scott said.

Dry and Crow creeks, which run through the north and south parts of Cheyenne, swept cars off streets and into their floodwaters. Cars were tossed on top of one another, telephone booths were torn from their bases, basements across the city were filled with water.

The storm spawned three tornadoes, but no damage from them was reported.

Cars were still piled up Friday where the water had pushed them down streets, and snowplows were used to shove aside hail on Pershing Boulevard.

Deputy, Girl Perish

Among the dead was Deputy Robert Van Allyne, 33, and a little girl he was trying to rescue from a car that had been washed into Dry Creek in northeastern Cheyenne.

The deputy had been tied to a telephone pole and had rescued three people from the car, Capt. Walt Vanetta said. He returned for the child, the rope broke and the two were swept away.

The county coroner refused to release other victims’ names Friday. One person died of a heart attack, officials said.

The Army and Air National guards helped with evacuations and the search for victims. About 50 people were taken to the guards’ armories, and many others decided to stay with friends or in motels, spokeswoman 1st Lt. Rosalind Schliske said.

Canteen Opened

The Salvation Army served hot meals and sent out mobile canteens to feed people working on cleanup and rescue, Owen said.

The county civil defense office and the police were flooded from their quarters and moved to municipal offices. Civil defense staff set up offices in a county office building but had to abandon that when a transformer blew out.

“It was like where the world came to an end, as far as coordination we’ve been working on for years goes. It failed because we had a flood through the entire network,” said Civil Defense Coordinator Dave Guille.

An earthen dam five miles west of Cheyenne was holding, but personnel were watching closely for any new rainfall.