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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The entire Republiean River basin in Colorado extends southwest into Lineoln and Elbert Counties <br />and east into Sedgwiek, Phillips, Yuma, Kit Carson and Cheyenne Counties. The watershed then <br />continues east into Kansas. The Southwest Drainage and Northern Drainage watersheds, whieh <br />form a very small part of the Republiean River basin, are entirely within Washington County, in the <br />immediate vieinity of Otis. <br /> <br />While climatie data for the Town of Otis is not available, sueh data is available for Akron and <br />Yuma through the Colorado Climate Center. Average monthly summaries of preeipitation, <br />snowfall, and temperatures for both eities are included in Appendix I. There are some differenees <br />between the climatie information for the two eommunities, but basieally Akron and Yuma provide <br />a good representation of the climate in Otis. <br /> <br />Floodinl! Problems and Floodinl! Historv <br /> <br />Flooding in Otis generally oeeurs during the spring and summer months as a result of flooding from <br />thunderstorms and general rainstorms. Snowmelt flooding has not been a signifieant problem in <br />Otis. Rainfall flooding in Otis is eharaeterized by high peak flows with small volumes of water <br />over a short duration. Beeause of the very flat terrain and the hydraulie obstruetions that impede <br />flow in Otis, these "small water volume" floods ean aetually take a long time to flow out of town. <br /> <br />Otis has experieneed flooding and storm drainage problems in both the north side and the south <br />side of town. Some of those problems have been addressed through struetural projeets. Currently <br />the majority of the south side of Otis is shown in the approximate 100-year floodplain of the <br />Southwest Drainage. The primary reason the floodplain is so large is the flow restrietion posed by <br />the two railroad eulverts under the Burlington Northern Railroad. The eulverts are too small to <br />eonvey even a 10-year flood without eausing ponding upstream. The 1986 hydraulie analysis by <br />Engineering Professionals, me. eoncluded that during a IOO-year flood, floodwater would pond <br />essentially to the top of the railroad embankment, resulting in flood depths on the south side as <br />great as 6 or 7 feet. As deseribed below, there has been flood eontrol work eondueted in Otis along <br />portions of the Southwest Drainage to address as mueh of this problem as is eeonomieally feasible. <br /> <br />The Northern Drainage is loeated approximately y,. mile north of the northern corporate limit of <br />Otis. However, the IOO-year floodplain of the Northern Drainage extends south into Otis. When <br />flood eontrol work was eompleted along the Southwest Drainage, some improvements were also <br />eonstrueted along portions of the Northern Drainage. <br /> <br />Otis' history includes several flood eaused by heavy rains. Most recently, during the summer of <br />1993, the Southwest Drainage flooded. While the Midwest, including the mainstem of the <br />Mississippi River, was experieneing reeord floO<ling in 1993, Otis and the surrounding area were at <br />the western extreme of that summer's wet weather systems. Because of the constrietion at the <br />railroad erossing, the heavy rain resulted in floodwater in the Southwest Drainage ponding on the <br />south side of Otis. It took approximately 36 hours for the majority of the ponded water to flow out <br />of town. Longtime residents stated that there have been previous floods that were even bigger than <br />3 <br />