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1921: Cloudburst causes 10' of flooding in Pueblo, CO

1921: Cloudburst causes 10' of flooding in Pueblo, CO

Author: AccuWeather June 3, 2022 Duration: 2:14
This Date in Weather History
History
What started out as just another day in June in Colorado in 1921, rapidly turned into one that would never be forgotten in the town of Pueblo, Colorado. A cloudburst enveloped the town the afternoon of June 3, 1921. During a typical cloudburst, over half an inch of rain may fall in a matter of minutes, and that is exactly what happened in Pueblo, creating devastating consequences for the heart of the town where the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek meet. At about the same time the rains were drenching the downtown area, there was another downpour about 30 miles north over Fountain Creek. As the torrential rains fell, the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek quickly began to swell, reaching over 15 feet in some areas before they began to recede. Within two hours from the start of the storm, the business district of Pueblo was flooded with water 10 feet deep. The entire Arkansas Valley, from 30 miles west of Pueblo to the Colorado–Kansas state line, was severely impacted. Hundreds of people died, with some death toll estimates as high as 1,500. The flood destroyed almost all of the downtown Pueblo area and decimated the city. Once the floodwaters receded, the immense damage became all the more visible. The flood, which covered over 300 square miles, carried away over 600 homes and caused upward of $25 million $350 million in 2021 dollars. Railroad passenger coaches and freight cars were swept away in every direction or smashed. A fire broke out in a lumberyard and burning lumber was carried throughout the city’s streets by the flood. The floodwaters also carried away entire buildings and businesses. Many of the dead were likely carried far down river and never recovered.

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This Date in Weather History
Podcast Episodes
1908: Record flooding impacts north and central Texas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Duration: 2:24
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In 1865, a group of mill owners from the Northampton area of Massachusetts constructed a dam on the Mill River north of the town of Williamsburg, it was constructed by using a design drawn by one of the owners, a man wit…
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Duration: 1:50
During the late afternoon and early evening of May 15, 1968, five tornadoes, two F1s, one F2, and two F5s occurred in Iowa. These tornadoes were part of the May 15-16, 1968 outbreak with a total of 39 tornadoes which aff…
1834: Late-season storm brings snow from Ohio to New England [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:50
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