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STUDY AREA DESCRIPI'ION Communitv DescriDtion Lake County is located in the mountains of central Colorado, Leadville is the county seat of Lake County and is located approximately 80 miles southwest of Denver. Lake County is bounded by the Continental Divide to the west and north, Park County to the east, and Chaffee County to the south. The area studied for the FHBM is the unincorporated areas of Lake County as of October 18,1977. Watershed DescriDtion The Arkansas River originates in Lake County north of Leadville, The headwaters of the Arkansas River are located in the San Isabel National Forest in northern Lake County at elevations in excess of 14,000 feet. The river flows southerly from is origin through Lake County to where it crosses into Chaffee near Granite, Colorado. The Arkansas River at the Lake - Chaffee county line is just over 300 square miles. There are numerous tributaries to the Arkansas River within Lake County, most of which have not been studied in detail. Floodinl! Problems and F100dinl! Ristorv Flooding in Lake County generally occurs in the spring and early summer as a result of rapid melting of the mountain snowpack, Snowmelt flooding is characterized by moderate peak flows and large volumes of water over a long duration, The peak flows have a noticeable diurnal fluctuation, Snowmelt flooding may occasionally be augmented by rainfall. Flooding from general rainstorms may also occur during the months of July through October. 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. Convective type cloudburst storms sometimes lasting for several hours, can be expected to occur in the Leadville area during the summer months, The cloudburst storms can cause high peak flows with a small volume over a short duration, Research of the study area yielded minimal information regarding flooding events in Lake County, In spite of the long history of human activity in Lake County, there are no historical accounts of major flooding on the Arkansas River or its tributaries within the county, There have been, however, occurrences of high water in the past.