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STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION Community Descrintion Rocky Ford is located in southeastern Colorado in Otero County, It is located approximately 53 miles east of Pueblo, The area studied for the FIRM is the incorporated areas of the City of Rocky Ford as of June 3, 1980, Watershed Description The local drainage ponding areas can overflow during thunderstorm events through Rocky Ford and lie within the Arkansas River Basin Subregion I, as set forth in the Guidelines For Determining 100- Year Flows For Approximate Floodplains and has a drainage area of less than 25 square miles, As a result, the basin size is less than the lower limit for the Arkansas River Basin Subregion I, as set forth in the Guidelines For Determining 100-Year Flows For Approximate Floodplains, Floodinl! Problems and Floodinl! Historv Convective type cloudburst storms sometimes lasting for several hours, can be expected to occur in the Rocky Ford area during the summer months. The cloudburst storms can cause high peak flows with a small water volume over a short duration. Flooding has occurred in Rocky Ford as recently as the summer of 1995 due to such storms. The local drainage ponding areas is shown on the Rocky Ford FIRM and has been a source of local flooding problems in the past. Flooding from general rainstorms may also occur during the months of June through September, General rainfall flooding is characterized by higher peak flows with a moderate volume and a moderate duration. Flooding is more severe when antecedent rainfall has resulted in saturated ground conditions or the ground is frozen and infiltration is minimal. Research ofthe study area yielded minimal information regarding major flooding events in Rocky Ford, In spite of the long history of human activity in Otero County, there are no historical accounts of major flooding in Rocky Ford, There have been, however, occurrences of high water in the past.