The 7 Most Horrifying Disasters That Ever Happened In Colorado

One of the first catastrophes that comes to mind when considering Colorado tragedies is the Denver flood of 1965, which is often referred to as the greatest disaster in city history. What began with springtime earthquakes, tornadoes, and hailstorms turned into freak summertime hailstorms up and down the Front Range that then morphed into record-breaking rains, resulting in the death of 21 people and $4 billion worth of damage.

While there are no living souls left who remember the Woodstock avalanche first-hand, you may have heard stories of when the now-defunct mountain town of Woodstock was buried in snow, killing 18 and essentially shutting down the town.

Another horrifying flood that many of us remember is the Thompson Canyon Flood, in which 144 people lost their lives in the most unimaginable of ways. In addition to the casualties, the flood - which had a smaller volume of water as the Denver flood - resulted in $140 million worth of damages.

Poor Denver just can't catch a break. Once referred to as the worst hailstorm in American history, the Denver hailstorm of 1990 dropped hailstones the size of baseballs that destroyed countless homes, cars, and businesses, and even injured 47 people who were stuck on the rides at Elitch Garden theme park. The estimated damage for the hailstorm? A record $1 billion.

While Colorado gets its fair share of wildfires every summer, the largest in state history was the Hayman Fire, which ravaged a record 138,114 acres between June 8th and July 18th, 2002. How did such a terrible tragedy - which cost $40 million in firefighting costs, burned 133 homes, and displaced 5,340 people - occur? A forestry technician claimed to have started a campfire to burn a letter from her estranged husband, though it was later speculated that she started the fire so she could put it out and be considered a hero for saving the forest.

I remember the tornado of 2008, as it was one of the most bizarre and unforeseen natural disasters of my generation. Caused by a freak tornado outbreak sequence spanning the Great Plains and Midwest, the Windsor tornado was the 4th costliest disaster in Colorado history. It resulted in one death, injured 78 others, and caused $147 million in damages.

The last on our list of horrifying Colorado disasters are the infamous 2013 Colorado floods, which took place from September of 2013 through early 2014. Spanning 14 counties, the floods killed eight, caused six to go missing, and racked up costs of over $1 billion.