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Last modified
1/26/2010 10:13:12 AM
Creation date
10/24/2007 10:03:53 AM
Metadata
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Floodplain Documents
County
Larimer
Community
Fort Collins
Stream Name
Big Thompson River
Basin
South Platte
Title
Twenty Years Later, What We Have Learned Since the Big Thompson Flood - Proceedings of a Meeting Held in Fort Collins - July 13-15, 1996
Date
7/13/1996
Floodplain - Doc Type
Educational/Technical/Reference Information
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<br />3 <br /> <br />The participants crossed many disciplinary boundaries and included <br />forecasters, hydrologists, sociologists, geomorphologists, local civil defense <br />officials, water engineers, members of the insurance industry, lawyers, and <br />geographers. <br />The symposium provided a rare opportunity to look back and assess the <br />strengths and weaknesses of post-disaster research and policy actions. The <br />post-audit provided a real event and time period focus for reflection on the <br />commonly held premise that disasters are opportunities for change to reduce <br />losses in the future. In 1986, after we spent a day-and-a-half discussing <br />advancements and disappointments, we met to make research and policy <br /> <br />Gruntfest <br /> <br />suggestions <br /> <br />Findings from the Tenth Anniversary Symposium <br /> <br />The discussion sessions following two days of the symposium led to the <br />five specific recommendations. (More detail is available in the 1986 <br />proceedings volume.) First, the need for transferring available flash flood <br />hazard mitigation information was identified as greater than the need for the <br />acquisition of new data. Second, the definition of "publics" for public <br />awareness needed to be broadened. Third, better techniques for estimating <br />costs, benefits, and losses were required so that accurate evaluations of <br />mitigation strategies could be made. Fourth, the public and private sectors <br />must work in a coordinated fashion to resolve important issues such as "how <br />safe is safe enough" with regard to dam projects. And, finally, the distinctions <br />between flash floods and slow-rise floods must be recognized and clarified <br />(Gruntfest, 1987) <br /> <br />Twenty Years After <br /> <br />In 1996, 10 years after the first symposium and 20 years after the flood, <br />the initial question of vulnerability remained. Vulnerability to flash floods <br />was increasing by virtue of the vast increases in population in the southwest- <br />ern U.S. Debris flows, mudslides, and alluvial fan flooding were all causing <br />more damages as more people moved into hazardous areas. Flash flood <br />deaths have not declined. A major policy dilemma continues to be how to get <br />people to abandon their cars and climb to safety in flash floods. The public <br />underestimation of the power of flowing water prevails. <br />The 1996 symposium's mission followed our earlier meeting as a post <br />audit to the flood and evaluation of lessons learned. As a group we again <br />represented a wide range of disciplines, including meteorology, paleo- <br />hydrology, psychology, emergency management, geography, and floodplain <br />
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