FLOOD10344

• County: Boulder
• Community: Boulder
• Stream Name: South Boulder Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: South Boulder Creek Correspondence
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Correspondence

Attachment A

Comments from Dr. Gilbert White in Supplement to the Study Session Memorandum
(January 17,2002)

· A report by University students to the City Council and County Commissioners on the Big Thompson floods
in which none of the -140 fatalities was caused by drowning, led to erection of highway signs advising
pedestrians and drivers to climb to safety in time offlood (Section III.B. Flood History).

· In the1940s, the Corps of Engineers, under authority of the U.S. Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938,
submitted to the City an engineering plan to build a levee the route of approximately what is now Canyon
Boulevard to protect all property to the north from Boulder Creek flooding. The land between the bank and
the levee would remain open space. The city and the U.S. would each pay for one-half of the construction
cost. The city rejected the proposal, and subsequently built the present City Hall and the lower building of
the Public Library in the floodplain (Section III.C. Floodplain Management History).

· Shortly after the adoption of floodplain zoning for Boulder Creek, the University of Colorado announced
plans to build housing for married students in the floodplain west of Folsom Drive. The authority for such
construction was asserted by the University under its "sovereignty" as a state agency, and was contested in a
civil suit, represented by Ruth Wright. The University prevailed and has since built housing for numerous
students and families in the floodplain, mostly foreign students. In the 1990s, the University established an
office of emergency services to inform student families of the flood risk and of measures that might be taken
in the event of a flood warning (Section III.C. Floodplain Management History).

· There is a growing body of evidence, nationwide, that flood losses can be greatly reduced by the actions of
individual citizens and organizations in two directions facilitated by public advice. One is in response to
efficient public warning systems. The amount of damage can be reduced by education and training in
precisely what actions should be taken when a warning is received, and in making the necessary preparation.
Accurate warnings are essential but their social value depends upon accurate understanding of what to do
when they are received.

A second promising initiative is in training individual citizens and organizations in flood proofmg. This
involves the organization or design of households and business establishments so that their gas, electrical
and water utilities, mechanical equipment, and storage facilities have a minimal vulnerability to flood
waters. A national conference on flood proofing will be held in Florida next month, and Ft. Collins has solid
experience in assisting citizens in taking the necessary steps (Section IV.A. Overview).

. It is worth noting that without the enactment of any new regulations, the design of the new Foothills housing
project, in the upper Fourmile Creek floodplain, provides that all construction is to be above the level of a
SOO-year flood, and that provisions will be made to assure a system for flood warnings in that upper portion
of the basin. The Federal Housing Authority agreed to the cost of those provisions (Section IV.A.
Overview).

. The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado is responsible for a fund, donated by an interested
citizen, that is to be used only in the event of a major Boulder Creek flood for the following purposes during
a period of two weeks by a student/faculty emergency team:
a) Description of major types of response to and physical and economic damages caused by the flood;
b) A brief history of previous flooding in Boulder;
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