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<br />floods within the Rifle Creek basin occurred in 1914, 1917, 1921 <br />(July and August), 1929, 1930 (July and August), 1937, 1945, 1947, <br />1951, and 1963. The August 1930 flood is reported to have been <br />the worst in the history of Rifle. <br /> <br />The only stream gage (USGS gage NO. 090-92000) along the streams <br />being studied was located in the upper reaches of Rifle Creek. <br />For this reason, records of specific floods are poor. Historic <br />flood information was available mainly from newspaper accounts <br />(Reference 2). <br /> <br />From available information, it can be concluded that the most <br />damaging floods along Rifle Creek, Government Creek, and Hubbard <br />Gulch have been the result of high-intensity, short-duration rain- <br />fall. Such cloudbursts generally occur only during summer. <br /> <br />The worst flood in Rifle history, August 8, 1930, resulted from a <br />2-hour cloudburst that produced high peak flows in Rifle and Govern- <br />ment Creeks. The flood claimed the life of a state highway patrol- <br />man; washed out two bridges (Railroad Avenue and Third street); <br />undermined railroad tracks and flooded the train station; and <br />inundated the sewage treatment plant and bulk storage facilities <br />of six oil companies. <br /> <br />The most recent floods of importance occurred in August 1963. On <br />August 9th, floodflows from a cloudburst severely damaged the <br />pioneer Ditch diversion in Rifle. In areas nearby, roads were <br />covered with mud, agricultural facilities were damaged, and a large <br />culvert was destroyed. The cloudburst resulted in the largest <br />flow ever recorded (1,720 cubic feet per second) at the USGS Rifle <br />Creek gaging station near Rifle. On August 12th, another cloudburst <br />resulted in the flooding of several downtown streets, severe damage <br />to streets, and deposition of tons of sediment and other flood <br />debris on streets and roads. It was estimated that several inches <br />of rain fell on the watershed's tributary to Rifle Creek. <br /> <br />Along Rifle Creek, there is one major constriction to the convey- <br />ance of floodflows: the aggraded channel bed occurring upstream of <br />the pioneer Ditch diversion structure. The channel bed has aggraded <br />up to 10 feet over an 800-foot reach. The rise in bed elevation <br />has constricted the flow capacity of the Third Street bridge just <br />upstream. <br /> <br />Along Hubbard Gulch, the major feature contributing to flooding <br />along the stream is the 14th Street culvert crossing. At that <br />location, the capacity of the culvert and natural topography combine <br />so that flows spill to the east of the channel, presenting a flood <br />danger to a portion of the city. <br /> <br />5 <br />