1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood
E1021078
The 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood was a catastrophic flash flood in Colorado that killed more than 140 people and became one of the deadliest natural disasters in the state's history.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood canonical | 1 |
| 1976 Big Thompson River flood | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13084483 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood Context triple: [Big Thompson River, knownFor, 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood]
-
A.
Missoula floods
The Missoula floods were a series of cataclysmic Ice Age glacial outburst floods that repeatedly swept across the Pacific Northwest, dramatically reshaping the landscape of what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
-
B.
1967 Fairbanks flood
The 1967 Fairbanks flood was a devastating inundation of Fairbanks, Alaska, that caused widespread damage and led to major changes in the region’s flood control and urban planning.
-
C.
Great Sioux City Flood of 1892
The Great Sioux City Flood of 1892 was a devastating late-19th-century flood that inundated Sioux City, Iowa, causing widespread destruction and loss of life along the Missouri River.
-
D.
Great Flood of 1879
The Great Flood of 1879 was a catastrophic inundation of the city of Szeged in Hungary that destroyed most of the town and prompted a major reconstruction.
-
E.
Bonneville flood
The Bonneville flood was a massive prehistoric outburst flood that occurred when ancient Lake Bonneville catastrophically drained, reshaping much of the Snake River Plain and surrounding landscapes in the northwestern United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood Target entity description: The 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood was a catastrophic flash flood in Colorado that killed more than 140 people and became one of the deadliest natural disasters in the state's history.
-
A.
Missoula floods
The Missoula floods were a series of cataclysmic Ice Age glacial outburst floods that repeatedly swept across the Pacific Northwest, dramatically reshaping the landscape of what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
-
B.
1967 Fairbanks flood
The 1967 Fairbanks flood was a devastating inundation of Fairbanks, Alaska, that caused widespread damage and led to major changes in the region’s flood control and urban planning.
-
C.
Great Sioux City Flood of 1892
The Great Sioux City Flood of 1892 was a devastating late-19th-century flood that inundated Sioux City, Iowa, causing widespread destruction and loss of life along the Missouri River.
-
D.
Great Flood of 1879
The Great Flood of 1879 was a catastrophic inundation of the city of Szeged in Hungary that destroyed most of the town and prompted a major reconstruction.
-
E.
Bonneville flood
The Bonneville flood was a massive prehistoric outburst flood that occurred when ancient Lake Bonneville catastrophically drained, reshaping much of the Snake River Plain and surrounding landscapes in the northwestern United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
flash flood
ⓘ
flood in the United States ⓘ natural disaster ⓘ |
| affects | Big Thompson River NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| cause |
intense rainfall
ⓘ
severe thunderstorm ⓘ |
| commemoratedBy | memorials along Big Thompson Canyon ⓘ |
| consequence |
increased public awareness of flash flood risks in Colorado
ⓘ
revisions to land-use planning in flood-prone areas of the canyon ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| damage |
extensive destruction of homes and infrastructure
ⓘ
severe damage to U.S. Highway 34 ⓘ |
| deadliestIn | Big Thompson River basin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| describedAs | one of the deadliest natural disasters in Colorado history ⓘ |
| endTime | 1976-08-01 ⓘ |
| eventSequence |
intense storm cell formed over the Big Thompson River headwaters
ⓘ
sudden wall of water surged down the canyon ⓘ torrential rain fell over steep terrain ⓘ vehicles and structures were swept away ⓘ |
| floodHeight | up to about 20 feet in places ⓘ |
| hasAftermath |
changes in flash flood warning procedures in Colorado
ⓘ
improvements in emergency management and forecasting ⓘ |
| hasCategory |
1976 disasters in the United States
ⓘ
July 1976 events in the United States ⓘ floods in Colorado ⓘ natural disasters in Colorado ⓘ |
| hasMemorialDate | July 31 ⓘ |
| impacted |
residents of Big Thompson Canyon
ⓘ
tourists and campers in the canyon ⓘ |
| locatedInTheAdministrativeTerritorialEntity | Larimer County, Colorado NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| location |
Big Thompson Canyon
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Colorado NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| mainCauseOfDeath | drowning ⓘ |
| maximumRainfall | over 12 inches in less than 4 hours in parts of the canyon ⓘ |
| naturalDisasterType | flash flooding ⓘ |
| notableFor |
high death toll among campers and motorists
ⓘ
rapid onset and extreme flow rates ⓘ |
| numberOfDeaths | 144 ⓘ |
| numberOfInjured | ~250 ⓘ |
| partOf |
history of flooding in Colorado
ⓘ
list of notable floods in the United States ⓘ |
| pointInTime | 1976-07-31 ⓘ |
| riverDischarge | estimated peak flows of tens of thousands of cubic feet per second ⓘ |
| startTime | 1976-07-31 ⓘ |
| timeOfDay | evening ⓘ |
| year | 1976 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood Description of subject: The 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood was a catastrophic flash flood in Colorado that killed more than 140 people and became one of the deadliest natural disasters in the state's history.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
1976 Big Thompson River flood