FLOOD11685

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Flood Task Force Summary - 06/15/04
• Date: 6/15/2004
• Prepared For: FTF
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Task Force Meeting Materials

... In my experimental forecasts for July through September 2004, favored regions remain to our south, both in
Arizona as well as especially over eastern New Mexico. These forecasts match soil moisture-based statistical forecasts
issued at the Climate Prediction Center.
.... Bottomline: Recent warming in the central equatorial Pacific may have averted the possibility of a switch to La
Nifia, just like it did last year around this time of year. Whether or not this will lead to a sizable El Nino event later this
year remains uncertain. Meanwhile, tilts in the precipitation odds remain subdued over much of the Colorado. If the
recent trend towards hotter summers holds up, drought conditions may worsen yet again, even if we receive average
rainfall.

Colorado Climate Center (CCC) - Nolan Doesken
The CCC drought data and presentation can be found on the web at htto://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu Mr. Doesken Made
the point that potential flooding should deserve some attention. His historical perspective was: 140 years ago we were
cleaning up flood damages, 128 years ago there was major flood damages in Denver, 110 year ago in Boulder there
were big flood, 100 years ago in
Fort Collins there were floods, 83
years ago we were doing clean up
in Pueblo from floods, 69 years
ago there was flooding on the
Republican River, 49 years ago
there was flood damages from
Huerfano to Pueblo counties to
Las Animas counties. Larry Lang
pointed out that in today's dollars
there would $2 billion in flood
damages if we had another 1965
flood. Nolan continued with 23
years ago there was an incredible
flood on Frijole Creek with 16"
of rain in four hours. Nolan
finished with the fact that only
five years ago we were cleaning
up flood damages on Fountain
Creek in El Paso and Pueblo
Counties.

COLORADO

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90-109
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Generally speaking, storms that
occur later in July and August tend to stop moving and stall a bit and hang around. This time of year they keep
moving. From the drought perspective: the stream flows are lower and the snow is pretty much gone, but the system is
not recharged. We are better than 2002 and two years later it's still not every good. In April we take a look back and
say "thank you the moisture was wonderful".

Water Year 2004 (October 2003 through May 2004) precipitation as a percent of the 1971-2000 average,

Impact Task Force Reports
Municipal Water Task Force Barry Cress - conditions are the same as last time restrictions went into place. We are
working with six projects around the state that are mostly plumbing and water quality. Things like circulation lines
and install water meters. The Pinewood District will get a loan from the CWCB to obtain better water rights.
Bob Stegner, Denver Water - reservoirs are about 81 % of full for Denver water and customers are using 27% less
water in May than in previous years.

Next Meeting
The next meeting was tentatively set for July 20th and that coincides with the next CWCB Board Meeting in Delta,
Colorado. The Water Availability Task Force Chair, Brad Lundahl, will pick a new date and location. All ofthe
interested parties will be notified via email. The Flood Task Force will only meet again in the event of significant
flooding in Colorado this summer. In the event of flooding the CWCB will coordinate state, federal flood programs to
assist in documentation, recovery, and floodplain mapping operations.

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