FLOOD11630 ‎(2)‎

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Post Flood Assessment Report - Arkansas River
• Date: 9/15/1999
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

Small Projects Under Corps of Engineers Continuing Authoritie~
The Corps constructed the Las Animas Local Flood Protection Project within the vicinity of Las
Animas in 1978 under the Section 204 Small Flood Control Project program. A1lhough the Las
Animas project provides a high degree of protection, the city is still subject to in~.ndation by
infrequent large magnitude storms. The project consists of a levee 9.6 miles long on the south
bank of the Arkansas River and another levee about one mile long on the north ba~nk. '
Over the yeazs, the Corps of Engineers has also utilized other special Continuing .Authorities to
provide 32 small emergency flood control projects along the Arkansas River and its major
tributaries. These projects consist of snagging and channel clearing (Section 208), emergency
streambank protection (Section 14)), and emergency repairs to existing flood control works
(Public Law 84-99). Most of the projects have been in or near the cities and towns Canon City,
Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta, and Las Animas upstre~am of John Martin Dam,
and Granada and Holly below the dam.
Following a lazge flood on May 20, 1955, the Corps of Engineers constructed an f:mergency
Levee Project for the unincorporated azea known as North La Junta, westwazd from the State
Route 109 (Main Street) bridge to Third (Plum) Street. The following year in June 1956, the
Corps of Engineers constructed a small spoil bank levee in North La Junta as part of a Section
208 small snagging and clearing project. The spoil bank levee was an :incidental feature to serve
as a cost effective disposal site for material dredged from the river channel. The Iarger spoil
bank levee incorporated the levee constructed the previous year. The channel project extended
b,600 feet, while the levee extended 6,250 feet. Both started upstreazn where the Fort Lyons
Irrigation Canal wasteway enters the Arkansas River near Jackson Avenue. The levee continued
down to near Melon Avenue (3,500 feet downstream of the State Route 109 Bridge), while the
channel dredging extended 350 feet further downstream. The levee was not designed for a
specific flood event. Three years later in 1959, the Corps of Engineer~ added prot~ction to the
spoil bank levee under the Section 14 emergency streambank protection program.
Construction by Other Agencies
Minor local protection projects consisting of levees, floodways, and channel improvements were
constructed by the Works Progress Administration and by local interests. Projects under these
programs were constructed at Fountain and Monument Creek at Colorado Springs; Ruxton and
Fountain Creeks at Manitou Springs; Fountain Creek at Pueblo; Purgatoue River at Trinidad;
Cucharas River at Walsenburg; and the Arkansas River and Anderson and King Arroyos at La
Junta. Projects were also constructed at various locations along the Ar'{ansas River. to protect
farmlands. The former Soil Conservation Service (Natural Resource Conservation Service)
constructed a number of floodwater retarding structures under the Watershed Protection and
Flood Prevention Act (Public Law 566, as amended). Local interests have constructed levees
along the Arkansas R.iver at La Junta, but they aze substandard in design and mater~als. These
levees aze generally ineffective in preventing lazge floods and in some instances, such as during
the 1965 flood, may have actually increased the damages. Additionally, local inter~ests have
Chapter 2- History of Flooding and Flood ,Protection
Post Flood Assessment Report 11 Draft Revised 09/09/99