Mom, daughter killed as flash flood washes away their camper, Colorado officials say

Flash floods in wildfire burn scars near Fort Collins killed two people and destroyed a home, Colorado sheriff’s officials reported.

“It was pretty dicey,” David Moore, spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, told the Loveland Reporter-Herald. The flooding also washed out roads and bridges.

A downpour caused flash floods Friday, July 15, in areas burned by the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires, Colorado Public Radio reported.

“There’s nothing to stop it,” resident Carrie Drovnick told KCNC. “Even with new growth, it won’t stop it.”

Floodwaters washed away a camping trailer with two people inside in Buckhorn Canyon, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office reported in a news release. They were later found dead.

A 37-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter died, KCNC reported.

Lisa Schilling and her daughter Lily Arguello were identified as those killed, KUSA reported.

Schilling taught fourth grade at Deane Elementary School in Lakewood, where she was remembered as “a compassionate and dedicated educator that deeply loved her students, colleagues, and family,” KMGH reported.

A home on Granite Road also was destroyed but the residents were not injured, the sheriff’s office said. There are no other reports of missing people.

Burn scars are especially vulnerable to flooding because there’s no vegetation to absorb the water, Colorado Public Radio reported.

“And then, that water is basically like it’s falling on a piece of glass and it’s just shooting off the mountainside,” meteorologist David Barjenbruch told the station.

Fort Collins is about 65 miles north of Denver.

This story was originally published July 17, 2022 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Mom, daughter killed as flash flood washes away their camper, Colorado officials say."