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<br />developed, except the upper Forked Gulch area which has recently been <br />annexed into the city. It is currently being developed for residen- <br />tial and some light industrial use. Several commercial and resi- <br />dential areas currently exist in Fremont County, adjacent to the City <br />of Canon City. <br /> <br />The climate in the area of Canon City is semi-arid. Average <br />annual precipitation is 13 inches based on an approximation from the <br />U.S. Department of Commerce Map of Nonnal Annual Precipitation for <br />the Sta te of Colorado. Peri ods of drought result from the uneven <br />distribution of precipitation. <br /> <br />The Arkansas River above Canon City is a typical mountain stream <br />which descends 6000 feet in elevation in a distance of less than 130 <br />mil es, at gradients often exceedi ng 50 feet per mil e. Whil e slopes <br />are steeper in the upper drainage basins the dense vegetation in <br />these areas serves to reduce rainfall runoff. A greater percent of <br />runoff is pennitted by the sparce vegetation of the foothills and <br />pasture land at the lower elevations. Consequently, the majority of <br />flood problems in the study area are caused by cloudburst type stonns <br />over the foothill s to the south which usually occur during the sunrner <br />months of June, July and August. Characteristic of this type of <br />flooding is a high intensity, short duration rainstonn of limited <br />areal extent, resulting in a flash flood of high peak flow, short <br />duration, and low total runoff volume. <br /> <br />The characteristics of the drainage basins studied in detail are <br />summarized in Table 1. <br /> <br />4 <br />