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<br />I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br /> <br />During the winter of 1993,94, Pacific and Arctic storm tracks affected the Colorado <br />mountains in primarily two (2) ways. First, typical winter storms from the Pacific area moved <br />mostly across southern Colorado causing a large snowpack to accumulate, Meanwhile, the rest <br />of the state, including the central and northern mountains plus the eastern high plains, received <br />snow accumulations from Arctic storms from Canada and Alaska, In many of the state's river <br />basins, snowpacks were moderately above normal. <br /> <br />As the spring snowmelt season approached, many communities were concerned abont <br />flooding, However, snowmelt flooding never materialized due to a normal spring warming trend <br />that was severely moderated by periods of cool weather. As is often the case, this set the stage <br />for the possibility of flooding which results from summer thunderstorms along the Front Range, <br /> <br />As expected, Front Range communities from Fort Collins to Pueblo experienced violent <br />thunderstorms which dropped significant amounts of rainfall in short periods of time throughout <br />the summer months, Often, the results were widespread, In June, the Minnegua Lake area in <br />Pueblo was inundated by slow moving thunderstorms two days in a row, The first storm <br />saturated the ground thereby reducing the soils permeability and its ability to absorb additional <br />moisture, Then the following evening, an even larger thunderstorm dropped anywhere from 2-4 <br />inches of rain in less than two (2) hours in the same area. As a result, 160 homes received <br />varying degrees of flood damage, This was the most costly flood event of the summer. July was <br />relatively quiet except for afternoon thunderstorms which affected the Denver metro area mainly <br />causing street flooding, Then in August, the skies seemed to open up every afternoon somewhere <br />along the Front Range, Significant flood events occurred in Larimer County, the Denver metro <br />area, Idaho Springs, Lyons, Canon City and again in Pueblo. The summer thunderstorm flood <br />season ended in September with significant flood events in Green Mountain Falls, Woodland <br />Park, Colorado Springs and Fountain. <br /> <br />Damages from these summer thunderstorms were costly both to residents and local <br />governments, Residents without flood insurance sought local and state financial assistance finding <br />little, if any, available, Technical assistance was provided to residents in most areas through <br />cooperative efforts from state and local governments. Two post-flood disaster workshops <br />provided residents with viable options to reduce future flood damages. <br />