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<br /> <br />Denver The DenverPost:July 30, 2006 ,Page 1 e <br />Circulation: 306,000 dllily.801,OOO SundllY <br /> <br />Lessons from a killer flood <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Searchers look through a car in the Big Thompson River west of Loveland. Som( ofthe victims ottheilood were found in their cars. <br /> <br />llJrTom Browning <br /> <br />Nearly 30 years haye.!'AASed since the <br />. . devM.tatingJlashnOlidi".on the B.igTh- <br />ompson River, setoff by a severe <br />rainstorm that stalled over Larimer <br />. County between Estes Park and.I.ove- <br />land On Iuly 31,1976. The storm dumped nearly 8 <br />inches of rain in one hour, and up to u inches of <br />rain in just a Cew hours, cauSing the normally <br />tnlnquil river to swell into a raging torrent of <br />death. The tragedy daimedl.44 lives and de. <br />stroyed more than 400 homes. Damage esti- <br />males were 4~ \!Je tens of millioll$ oCdoIlars. <br />The peak lJoodJlow on the Big Thompson was <br />computcd to be just over 30,000 cubic Ceet per <br />second (more than 13 million gaIJoll$ of water per <br />minute) lIS it swept througb tbe river canyon and <br />the community of Drake. Remnantsot houses <br />washed downstream and ended up on top of <br />bridges, cars were smashed into unrecognizable <br />heaps of metal by giant bou4iers that tumbled <br />down the river in the 'swiftly moving water. and <br />portions of U.S. 34 Were completely tom away <br />from the mountainside. .' . c <br />But the Big Thompso~:fi@\ll(does not stand <br />alone as the only major lJiIOain Coloradobisto- <br />ry, amI similar lJoods likely lie in our future. <br />Otber devastating floods of the past include <br /> <br />the enormous one on the Arkansas River in 1921 <br />that killed about 350 people and left behind a <br />swath of dcsll'1l!;tion in Pueblo, followed by an- <br />other large llOOd-in 1935 on Fountain Creek tbat <br />left ilspowerfuJ mark on Colorado Springs. Our, <br />lm$r~second half of the century, the Great <br />P100a of June .ll)6s was not only deadly but <br />wreaked enough bavocin Castle Rock and Den- <br />ver to causeneariy $1 billion indimage (2006 dol- <br />lars). My granitfather lost neady everything <br />when his entire businessl/lllSwasbedaway io the <br />raging waters of the '6S'l100d: <br />Extreme highWaterfrom rapid snowmelt dur- <br />ingl98<! in western' ColoradOreJlultcd In wide- <br />spread damage and<4'multjc:ounty disaster decla- <br />ration. The 1997 recordJIOOdon Spring Creek in <br />Fort Collins caused five deaths and triggered a <br />presidential disaster declaration, with approxl- <br />motdy $200 mDIion in property damage in wt <br />city. . <br />I've witnessed tile impacts ofseveraJ other ap- <br />palling 1J00ds during my .!'tofessional.~ar,eer, in- <br />cluding the 1996 Buffalo Creek Jlasb.lIODa in]ef- <br />terson COunty, the 1m Spring Creek lIashllOOd <br />in Fort Collins, the 1997PawneeCreekn?cid~ <br />Sterling and tb.e 1999 'Arkansas RIver 'Rood in <br />NorthLa}unt'!!: : >.. <br />ManylC!SOnshavc bc<:n.lcariLed froni that fate- <br />ful day in 197oaiufrnm.sinillat,disasters, most of <br /> <br />which bave guided tbe way engineers, govern- <br />ment planners and JlOOd specialists think about <br />public healtb, safety and welt are. Tbose lessons <br />relate to how bumans react during frightening <br />emergency situations, and how extreme events <br />should be analyzed to improve peak now compu- <br />tation.. for streams in the region. <br />Technological advances in recent decades <br />bave also greatly assisted in proteeting lite and <br />property. One tool Wt water management offi- <br />cials use now Is anextensive network of automat- <br />ed streamflow and rainfall gauges located <br />througbout the state. Those instruments are able <br />to report valuable data on a real-time basis, <br />through sateJJlte telemetry, (or immediate use by <br />decision-makers. <br />The National Weather Service uses NEXRAD <br />Doppler radar and rainfall algorithms to assess <br />storm threats and to issue lIoOd "watches" and <br />"warnings" when specific counties may be at risk <br />for potential or actua1 Ronding. The communica- <br />tion tool known as "reverse gu" has been success- <br />fully used to wam residents about looming dan- <br />ger and was recently put to the test in Douglas <br />County to notify people about the flooding along <br />West Creek Wt tore apart a 10- mile section of <br />Colorado 67. <br />Other warning methods include eellphones, <br />pagers and e-mail messages. <br /> <br />__1,"",__ <br /> <br />In today's system of floodplain management, <br />the Colorado Water Conservation Board works <br />closely witb. federal and 1oca1 partners tobelp en- <br />courage wise Iand-use practices and flood pre- <br />vention. The board has severa1 programs to as. <br />sist in flOOd-loss reduction. such as managing <br />Federal Emergency Management Agency 8ood- <br />plain mapping stUdIes, completing-flood bazard <br />mitigation projects. conducting flood outlook <br />and research, providing post-llOod teclwical as- <br />sistance to provide damaged communities with <br />Wormation about future proteCtion measures, <br />and implementing watershed restOralion <br />projects. <br />Vet even with all of the wotlt being done and <br />available new teclmo1og!es, we will continue to <br />experience flood damage. <br />Why? One key reason is wt c:unent standards <br /> <br /> <br />> See.FUIOD on 2E <br /> <br />Tom Browning is chief offlood protection <br />for the Colorado Water Conservation <br />Board and chair of the <br />Colorado Association of Stormwater <br />and Floodplain MlUUl8ers. <br />