FLOOD10502 ‎(2)‎

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: State of Colorado - 2007 Flood Documentation Reports
• Date: 8/1/2007
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Prepared By: ICON Engineering
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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FLOOD DOCUMENTATION REPORT - CHAPTER 3

-

Denver, Colorado Flood of May 14,2007
Goldsmith Gulch In Bible Park
(Denver City and County)

On the evening of May 14,2007, intense
thunderstorm activity in the Denver Metro area
created localized flooding. This was a wide-
spread storm with total reported rainfall of up to
about I-inch. In particular, Goldsmith Gulch, in
the southeast metro area experienced higher
than normal flows. At approximately 9 PM, two
people in the Bible Park area of Goldsmith
Gulch flagged down Denver Police Officer
Jairon Katz and reported seeing a youth in the
water near the Goldsmith Gulch crossing
structure at Yale A venue. Officer Katz jumped
into the water in an attempt to rescue the person,
who was described as being a male between 15
and 20 years of age. Reportedly, the officer was
able to grasp the youth, but lost contact and the youth was swept through the Yale
A venue structure. Officer Katz was subsequently overwhelmed by the water current and
had to be pulled from the water by other officers that responded to the scene. An
extensive search was launched for the youth through the night and into the next day, with
no results. No missing persons reports were received and no runaways were reported.
As a body was not located and no-one came forward, it is believed that the youth may
have been able to escape the water downstream of Yale A venue and simply left the scene.
Officer Katz was treated for hypothermia at a local hospital and was released with minor
bruises.

Introduction

figure 3.1 - Denver County Location in
the State of Colorado.
Map courtesy of the Colorado Herpetological
Society.

According to a news report issued in the Rocky Mountain News, a neighbor to the Bible
Park area reported that the youth that was in the gulch may have been trying to cross the
gulch at a pedestrian crossing upstream of Yale Avenue.

Goldsmith Gulch basin encompasses a drainage area of approximately 8 square miles in
the southeast Denver Metropolitan area, through portions of the City and County of
Denver, City of Greenwood Village and Arapahoe County. The basin is largely
developed, and includes most of the Denver Technology Center. Goldsmith Gulch is
tributary to Cherry Creek with the confluence near Monaco Boulevard, approximately
four miles downstream of the Cherry Creek Dam. Two regional detention facilities are

ICON Engineering, Inc

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