Breaking News Entry: Flooding Wreaks Havoc In Colorado

Days of heavy rain caused dangerous flash flooding in the early hours of Thursday, Sept. 12 across a wide geographic area.

KUNC’s coverage kicked off at 5 a.m. on Sept. 12 with on-the-scene reports from hard-hit Boulder in the foothills northwest of Denver. Throughout the following days, listeners were kept up to date with the latest information about washed-out roads and bridges, broken dams and deaths caused by the flooding. Breaking news continued on Fri. Sept. 13 as local governments began launching air rescue missions for thousands of residents stranded in towns inundated by raging water. Those efforts stalled over the weekend due to additional rain and resumed the week of Sept. 16-20. News continued to break that week as thousands were evacuated from cutoff areas. As flood waters moved out of the foothills onto the Eastern Plains, farming communities scrambled as critical infrastructure was overrun and oil spills were discovered. The full impact of the flooding was just starting to be realized across the entire region.

http://cpa.ds.npr.org/kunc/audio/2014/01/2013_murrow_flood_breakingnews.mp3

Our composite entry for Breaking News focuses on the early response to the flooding followed by samples of news spots, interviews and in-depth features that span the first nine days after the flash flooding began.