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<br />the engine, which search was completely buriedc A few days later ... search was begun <br />for the missing engine. Long metallic rods were driven in the sands. In some places, ptts <br />were started but soon abandoned because of the heavy underflow, and the location of the <br />. . . locomotive appeared hopeless when tt was estimated the bedrock formation was <br />probably 50 feet below the channel of the Kiowa. (h never was recovered.)" <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />Flood of 30-31 Mav 1935. This flood was caused by several small storm cells centered <br />over the extreme upper reaches of the Kiowa Creek basin. Rainfall amounts up to 24 <br />inches in a 12-hour period were reported. At the small town of Kiowa, Colorado, 15 <br />houses were SWE'pt away and several stores were wrecked. Estimated peak discharges <br />on Kiowa Creek for this event were 43,500 cubic feet per second at Elbert just below the <br />junction of Kiowa and West Kiowa Creeks, 110,000 cubic feet per second at a stte about <br />11 miles downstn~am from Kiowa, and 75,300 cubic feet per second near Bennett. Water <br />in Wiggins was several feet deep. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />Flood of 17-111 June 1965. A large storm system which was centered over the Bijou <br />Creek Basin to the east extended into the upper reaches of the Kiowa Creek Basin. The <br />largest rainfall amount reported was 14 inches, most of which fell in a single 3-hour period. <br />Peak discharge E!stimates for this event were 41,500 cubic feet per second at a stte just <br />upstream from West Kiowa Creek, 19,700 cubic feet per second at Kiowa, and 24,900 <br />cubic feet per second near Bennett. Of 69 floodwater retarding structures built by the SCS <br />in the Kiowa Cn~ek Basin, 30 were filled to capactty and in some cases emergency <br />spillway flow depths were as high as 35 feet. <br /> <br />4.1.15 BIJOU CREEK BASIN <br /> <br />Flood Historv. Floods in the Bijou Creek Basin have occurred as the result of runoff <br />from high intenstty rainfall over a relatively small portion of the drainage area. Records do <br />not indicate any major flooding from snowmeh runoff. The two record flood events that <br />have occurred in the Basin are described in the following paragraphs. <br /> <br />Flood of Mav 1935. Runoff from the storm of 30 and 31 May 1935 caused major <br />flooding in the Bijou Creek Basin. An observer on East Bijou Creek at a point 3 miles west <br />of Deer Trail reported seeing a wall of water 10 or 15 feet high rushing toward him. The <br />business section of Byers was inundated by flooding on West Bijou Creek, and the Union <br />Pacilic railroad bridge and embankment were washed out. The estimated peal.. discharge <br />at the Wiggins gaging station was 280,000 c.f.s. <br /> <br />Flood of June 1965. The unprecedented rainstorms of June 1965 caused major <br />flooding in the Bijou Creek basin. Heavy runoff caused extensive damage at the towns of <br />Deer Trail and Byers. In the rural areas, farms and ranches along the bottomland were <br />severely damage!dc A boy was drowned as he was checking the livestock in one of the <br />outbuildings at his fathers ranch along a Bijou Creek tributary. His father indicated that .. <br />the flood approached wtthout warning shortly after the heavy rains beganc These <br /> <br /><! <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Manual <br /> <br />4.22 <br /> <br />a:w=r <br />