FLOOD00728

• Designation Number: 364
• County: Garfield
• Community: Parachute
• Title: Flood Insurance Study - Parachute, CO, Garfield County
• Date: 9/1/1991
• Designation Date: 7/1/1994
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

2.0 AREA STUDIED

2.l Scope of Study

This Flood Insurance Study covers the incorporated areas of the
Town of Parachute, Colorado. The area of study is shown on the
Vicinity Map (Figure l).

Parachute Creek was studied
Colorado River, north to
Parachute.

in detail from its confluence with the
the corporate limits of the Town of

The Colorado River was studied in detail from the southwestern
corporate limit to the southeastern corporate limit.

The areas studied by detailed methods were selected with priority
given to all known flood hazards and areas of projected development
or proposed construction through November, 1990.

2.2 Community Description

The Town of Parachute is located in western Garfield County along
the Colorado River in Section l2, Township 7 South, Range 95 West
of the 6th principle meridian. Incorporated in 1908 as Grand
Valley, the town's name was changed in 1981 to Parachute when oil
shale development was in rapid progress. Population in Parachute
was estimated to be 921 in the year 1990.

The town lies on the north
Parachute Creek at its
(Figure l).

bank of the Colorado River and straddles
confluence with the Colorado River

With an average elevation of 5,090 feet above mean sea level (MSL),
the town's climate is semi-arid. Rainfall of l4 to 16 inches
occurs annually. The majority of precipitation falls in the form
of rain in the months of April to October.

The Parachute Creek basin is approximately 200 square miles in area
and rises on the Roan Plateau north of the town. The basin's
headwaters outside of the corporate limits are near 8,800 feet MSL
in elevation where the annual precipitation is approximately 20 to
25 inches. In the higher elevations, most of the precipitation
occurs as snow during the months of October through April.

Soils in the basin include Mollisols at the higher elevations and
Aridisols and Entisols in the lower parts. Fluvents are
predominant in and adjacent to stream channels. Geologic
formations include the Wasatch formation and the Tertiary Green
River formation which contain oil shale deposits.

Vegetation indigenous to the basin includes conifer and aspen
forests at the higher elevations and juniper, pinon and sagebrush
stands at lower elevations. Stream banks are lined with stands of

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