BOARD02309

• Board Meeting Date: 9/27/1999
• Description: Flood section - 1999 Flood Response Update
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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The Board's contractor, Montgomery Watson, Inc., is preparing a documentation report that will
provide the details of the 1999 flood season. A 1999 flood report will provide us with the
meteorology for the 1999 flood events, local flood problems, inundated areas, emergency
response activities, the flood damages, and flood hazard mitigation needs. The total flood
damages for the 1999 flood events will be over 50 million dollars. Some preliminary flood
damage estimates are for the Fountain Creek watershed - 35 million dollars, and Otero County -
10 million dollars.

DISCUSSION

General
In order to manage the flood disaster cleanup and recovery activities, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) opened a Disaster Field Office (DFO) in Colorado Springs with
several satellite offices in other affected areas of the state. The CWCB provided, and continues
to provide, technical assistance for flood documentation and other flood related activities, and
provided manpower for the position of Mitigation Officer for this disaster.

The 1999 flood events were not kind or timely to the Board's flood section staff. The 1999
events occurred during the time when the staff was implementing the flood mitigation projects
for the 1997 flood disaster, therefore, not only was the staffs ability to respond to the 1999
events limited, but many of the other flood"related projects were tabled.

Actions
The CWCB staff, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Management, Division of Water
Resources, Colorado Geological Survey, Colorado Soil Conservation Board, Colorado
Department of Transportation, Department of Local Affairs, US Geological Survey, Corps of
Engineers, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency,
National Weather Service and locally impacted counties and cities/towns have complied flood
losses, flood information and data, needs, and proposed mitigation measures.

The Board's specific activities include:
I. Inspected the seriously impacted flood sites;
2. Collected rainfall and flood information;
3. Provide technical assistance to the flood disaster recovery operations:
4. Prepared a funding request for additional staff assistance (partially funded);
5. Provided a staff member to the Disaster Field Office;
6. Administering the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program applications (See note no. I);
7. Contracted for the Flood Documentation Report;
8. Directing the revision of the Colorado Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan (See note no. 2);
9. Prepared the following publications entitled "Colorado Flood Disaster 1999" by
Colorado Water Conservation Board and "State of Colorado Interagency Hazard
Mitigation Team Report" by the Interagency Hazard Mitigation Team; and
10. Working with the federal flood-related agencies in the drafting of "Scope of Work"
and "Work Plans" for the implementation of their program objectives to address
Colorado community needs and issues.