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<br />!,,'J AREA STUDIED <br /> <br />2,1 Scope of Study <br /> <br />This Flood Insurance Study covers the incorporated areas of the <br />City of Aspen, pitkin County, Colorado. 'fhe al:ea of study is <br />shown on the Vicinity Map (Figure 1). <br /> <br />The Roaring Fork River, Castle Creek and Maroon Creek within <br />the City of Aspen were studied by detailed methods. <br /> <br />2.2 Community Description <br /> <br />The City of Aspen is <br />central Colorado. <br />unincorporated areas <br />seat.. <br /> <br />located in eastern Pitkin County in west- <br />The city L, completely surrounded by <br />of Pitkin Co~nty, and serves as the county <br /> <br />Aspen is a mountain resort community situated high in the <br />Roaring Fork Valley at the foot of the Continental Divlde. <br />Historically, Aspen was a mining town, but ha~,i since become a <br />ski and summer resort community. DE,velopment in the city has <br />been increasing with the growth of the ski industry. The <br />population has been generally increasing since World War II and <br />in 1980 was 3,804 (Reference 1). <br /> <br />The majbr drainageway through Aspen is the Roaring Fork River, <br />which collects flow from tributary ,,';treams on both sides of the <br />valley. The watercourses in Asp'"n have steep" well..,defined <br />channels with heavily vegetated overbanks. Channel bottoms are <br />covered with cobbles and boulders. <br /> <br />Average annual precipitation is approximately 19.25 inches <br />(Reference 2). As an avera9"'r 11.8 inches of this <br />precipitation is snowfall and 7.5 inches is rainfall. Average <br />temperatures drop into the twenti"'''i during the winter and rise <br />into the sixties during the summer" <br /> <br />2.3 Principal Flood Problems <br /> <br />Flooding from streams in Aspen usually occurs during the months <br />of May through August, with the principal cause of flood flows <br />being runoff from snowmel t. <br /> <br />Aspen is known to have a long history of flood:3, the ear 1 iest <br />record occuring in 1880 (Reference 3). A flood that occurred <br />in June-July 1917 is considered the most severe in the Aspen <br />area with a peak of 3,170 cfs for t:he Roaring Fork River. In <br />additiion, records show four flood peaks over 2,000'cfs within <br />the period 1915 to 1921. <br /> <br />The largest recorded flood on Castle Creek occurred in 1918 <br />with a peak flow of 1,090 cfs. FOl: Maroon Creek a peak of 836 <br />cfs was recorded in 1980 (ReferenCi,' <I). <br /> <br />-2-, <br />