RUSTIC, Colo. (KDVR) — Three family members still remain missing after being swept away by flood waters Tuesday in Poudre Canyon.
The body of a woman, also a member of the family, has been recovered.
FOX31 has identified the name of the family involved, but we are not sharing the names just yet until we are certain their next of kin has been notified.
However, neighbors are remembering the family and their connection to the valley.
‘We never ever dreamed of that much water’
Paul Snider’s family lives very close by. Their cabin narrowly escaped the flood waters when nearby Black Hollow Creek swelled into a raging river.
“That stream is normally not much more than three feet wide. We never ever dreamed of that much water coming down Black Hollow Creek,” Snider said.
Paul Snider was blown away by the amount of devastation, but he was heartbroken to learn his neighbor and his neighbor’s family were washed away by the flood waters.
“We were probably 200 yards away from his cabin, his trailer,” Snider said.
A painting, preaching veteran
Snider said his friend was a U.S. Air Force veteran in his 80s who had long made the canyon his summer home.
“He usually goes up there the first part of May and is up there until sometime in September,” he said.
Snider said his fishing buddy and neighbor not only loved to fish, but he also loved to paint. He was an ordained minister, who even in his late 80s would volunteer to preach at the community church just down the road.
“He’s a very good person, very polite, very nice. He’s an outstanding guy that’s for sure,” Snider said. “It’ll be hard to take for a while.”
Search crews will be out on the river again Friday searching for the remaining missing members of the family, although the crews will be in reduced numbers compared to previous days of searching.