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<br />. <br /> <br />DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM <br /> <br />Project Location: <br />The project is located in and adjacent to the Town of Wiley, which is within Prowers County, <br />Colorado. A project location map is provided as an attachment. Photos of the project area are <br />also provided as attachments. <br /> <br />Federal Disaster Declaration: <br />The project is entirely within the federally declared disaster area for disaster # DR-1186-CO, <br /> <br />Damage Survey Reports: <br />Information on DSR's for the 1997 flood disaster has not been included in this report. <br />Completed DSR's for this project area (if applicable) have been filed with the Colorado Office of <br />Emergency Management and FEMA Region 8. There are no previously completed flood <br />mitigation projects and no previously declared flood disasters for this project area. <br /> <br />Flood Problem Description: <br />Wiley is located in southeastern Colorado within the Arkansas River basin, It is within Prowers <br />County, and is located approximately 8 miles northwest of Lamar, and approximately 110 miles <br />east of Pueblo. Highway 287 is the major north-south highway that serves the town. The town sits <br />at an elevation of about 3700 feet. The flooding source studied is the Wiley Drainage Ditch within <br />. unincorporated areas ofProwers County and the Town of Wiley. <br /> <br />Wiley is located mainly along the west side of the Wiley Drainage Ditch, which drains a total area <br />of about 72 square miles at the upstream end of town. The ditch drains from north to south, and <br />empties directly into the Arkansas River downstream of Wiley and several miles west of Lamar. <br />The low flow channel of the ditch is well defined through town, with relatively flat overbank areas. <br />The main channel is typically straight with very few bends or meanders, The average streambed <br />slope in the study area is about 0.2 percent. <br /> <br />Land use within the watershed is mainly agricultural consisting of cornfields, alfalfa pastures, other <br />croplands, and native grasslands. The Fort Lyon and Kicking Bird Canals traverse through the <br />watershed and provide some measure of runoff reducing protection for the town. Under normal <br />operating conditions, the Kicking Bird canal rarely used during the summer months (flood season), <br />and offers a significant ability to carry runoff from the upstream portion of the watershed. <br />Community officials feel that both the Fort Lyon and the Kicking Bird Canals offer some flood <br />protection benefits to their community. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Flooding in eastern Colorado normally occurs during the late spring and summer months (May <br />through September) as a result of flooding from thunderstorms or general rainstorms. The Wiley <br />Drainage Ditch is subject to flash flooding from rainfall events, where the runoff is dependent on <br />the amount and duration of the rainfall, the antecedent soil moisture conditions, the vegetative/crop <br />cover, and other factors. The most vulnerable housing area within town prone to flooding is located <br />at the Gold Addition subdivision, which is located on the northeast side of town on the upstream <br />side of Highway 196. This subdivision was built approximately 12 years ago, and currently <br />