BOARD02588

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

coordinating disaster mitigation operations, including the distribution of funds to individuals who
have lost property in the floods. In addition, we anticipate that preparation of reports and review of
grant applications will require additional staff expertise:
. Help prepare a IS-day flood report for FEMA;
· Revise the State's Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan, last revised in response to flooding in
1997;
· Initiate the process of soliciting, preparing and screening applications from local
governments for the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) grants; and
. Prepare a flood documentation report.

DISCUSSION
Our staff has already begun planning for the following tasks in response to the flooding and
the disaster declaration.

I. We will be preparing a request for supplemental funding (approximately $45,000) for the
preparation of the flood documentation report. That report will document evidence of
rainfall, flood flows, flooding depths, frequencies and damages and will guide the
formulation of specific mitigation alternatives.

2. We will probably be looking to FY 2000 Severance Tax funding to support an investigation
to determine causes of channel erosion on Fountain Creek from Colorado Springs to
Pueblo.

3. We are will be pursuing cost share funding with the Albuquerque District of the Corps of
Engineers to undertake a channel restoration study to determine causes of capacity and
sedimentation problems in the Arkansas River in the vicinity of La Junta. Again these
problems were evident in the April-May 1999 flood.

4. An investigation with the Corps concerning the Arkansas River channel below John Martin
Reservoir has been completed. We will be evaluating mitigation projects and funding
options for the projects identified in that report in cooperation with local governments,
landowners and the Lower Arkansas Watershed Group.

5. The USGS groundwater investigation for the La Jlll1ta area is slightly delayed but nearing
completion. We plan to begin evaluating evidence of the factors contributing to the ground
water mounding problem of recommended alternatives is scheduled for August 1999. We
are still urging the Corps to begin our channel investigation, but they appear to have
assigned their personnel to other priorities.

No action by the Board is required at this time but your suggestions and support are always
helpful.

L:/boardmem/may99/03(b )Flooding Disaster Declaration

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