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<br />1 <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />1930's and 1942 focused attention on a massive flood protection program <br /> <br />which envisioned construction of darns and levees and other measures to <br /> <br />improve the South Platte channel. By 1950, the Cherry Creek reserVoir had <br /> <br />been constructed at a cost of $15,000,000 with the purpose of shielding <br /> <br />Denver from the potential flooding of the Cherry Creek tributary to the <br /> <br />South Platte. Construction of the Chatfield dam was approved by Congress <br /> <br />in 1959. The dam cost upwards of $75,000,000 and was designed to reduce <br /> <br />overflows of the South Platte. Finally, a dam has been authorized to <br /> <br />contain flooding along the Bear Creek and is near completion. <br /> <br />Another measure of rising vulnerability is indicated by the increasing <br /> <br />governmental involvement iri flooding in the state and across the nation. <br /> <br />Colorado has experienced a major flood requiring federal assistance almost <br /> <br />every other year since 1965. In 1976 alone, on the national scene, there <br /> <br />were 30 major Presidential disaster declarations, of which 27 involved <br /> <br />floods. The recent disaster in Rapid City occurred under conditions not <br /> <br />unlike those of Denver's population distribution, topographic configuration, <br /> <br />and climatic regime. The Big Thompson experience was more localized but <br /> <br />it highlighted the vulnerability of any populated area near the Front Range <br /> <br />which is subject to sustained rainfall. The increased impact of floods <br /> <br />nationwide and their repeated occurrence over the state point to the sus- <br /> <br />ceptibility of the city to sustained and heavy rainfall. <br /> <br />The hypothesis that Denver's vulnerability to flooding is high, despite <br /> <br />the mitigating measures adopted sine 1965, can best be tested by comparison <br /> <br />of the impact of the two major floods: the 1965 flood which caused damage <br /> <br />over much of the Eastern Slope of Colorado and to Denver, and a hypothetical <br /> <br />flood of 1965 proportions assumed as occurring during present times, mainly <br /> <br />affecting the Denver area. This assumed flood, which could'nave impact on the <br /> <br />Denver area might, in the past, have been thought of as an extremely rare <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />-5- <br />