Colorado floods: Stories of grief, generosity and gratitude

Boulder, Colorado -- The numbers are stark: As many as six dead. Hundreds more unaccounted for. Up to 1,000 people still awaiting evacuation.

But it's the stories -- of loss, but also generosity and gratitude -- that truly reflect the scope of the misery, and the tenacity of spirit, in Colorado's once-in-a-lifetime flooding -- now in its fifth day.

THE VICTIMS

'I started panicking and I couldn't breathe'

So far, the state has confirmed four deaths and fear that two others missing will be added to that toll.
The four confirmed victims include a man and a woman, both 19, who were among a group of four teen-agers headed home when the deluge began in Boulder County late Wednesday night.

Emily Briggs was the driver. She told that affiliate KUSA-TV that she was terrified. Her friend Wesley Quinlan took over.

"I started panicking and I couldn't breathe, and Wesley said, 'It's OK, Emily, I'll drive.' So I let him drive, and we kept driving and we just hit a wall of water and rocks," Briggs

With the car stopped, Quinlan said everyone should get out and try to reach safety.

"Our feet were just thrown in the air," said Nathan Jennings, who survived along with Briggs.

Wiyanna Nelson, 19, was swept away first, and Quinlan tried to rescue her, the survivors said.

"I looked at Wesley and he looked at me, and he jumped after her," Briggs said. She got back in the car and was rescued later. Jennings couldn't get back to the car but grabbed a log until a firefighter rescued him.

Quinlan's body was recovered Thursday and Nelson's body the next day.

Another body was found in a collapsed home in Jamestown in Boulder County. Rescuers recovered a fourth body on a roadway in Colorado Springs in El Paso County.

Those presumed dead include a 60-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman, both in Larimer County.

Witnesses saw the younger woman swept away by floodwater that demolished her house. The older woman suffered injuries and was unable to leave her home.

Authorities Sunday were updating the lists of "unaccounted for" in the two hardest-hit counties: 482 people in Laramie County and 318 in Boulder County.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said many of those may have found shelter with friends.

"But we're still bracing," Hickenlooper told Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "I mean, there are many, many homes that have been destroyed. A number have been collapsed, and we haven't been in them yet."