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<br />P~~k ~nd 3.66 inches ~t Waterdale. Between 4 and 7 June, Estes <br />Park ~ecelved J.92 Inches of rai nfall whi Ie Waferdale recerved <br />5.30lnches. Lowland areas west of Loveland were flooded and <br />U. S. Highway 34 to Estes Park was damaged. <br /> <br />FUTURE FLOODS <br /> <br />Au~us1" 1951. On 2 and 3 August 1951, intense <br />rains over much of the basIn caused severe floodlnn along the BIg <br />Thompson River from Buckhorn Creek to the mouth. The peak dis- <br />charge at Orake was 3,530 c.f.s. on 3 August, At the river mouth <br />the flow peaked at 6,100 c.f.s. on 4 August. Estos Park received <br />1.31 Inches of rein during 2 and J August; Waterdale lI1I'lasured <br />4.64 inches, of which 4.18 Inches fell on 2 August. On Buckhorn <br />Creek, a d~m cont~lnlng about 1,000 ~cre-feet of stored water, <br />faIled at 10,00 P.M. On 3 August. The f 1000d cresf reached Love~ <br />IIIndatll:30P.M.l'lndthepal'lktharawasestlmatedtobe22,OOO <br />c.f.s. The river was reported tObeamilew,de In places. Num- <br />erous rural homa; were flooded, many swept from their found~tions. <br />OnemlleofU.S.HTgh"ayJ4westoflovelandwaswlIshedaway. <br />irrigation works, such as diversion dams and canals, "ere des- <br />troyed, crop loss "115 heaVY, and t~re was mucn sediment and ero- <br />sion damage. The I ivas of four peopl.. were lost and many were <br />left homeless. Total damages from the fiood were estimated at <br />$602.000. <br /> <br />Floods of the Same or larger magnitude than those th~t <br />have oecurred eould occur in the future. To determine the flood <br />potsntiel of the study area, the IO-year, 50-year, IOO-ye~r, ~nd <br />500-year floods were analyzed. The results of this analysis are <br />presented Tn this repo~t as a means of demonstrating the effects <br />of large floods. <br /> <br />Oischarge ~gnitudes for floods analyzed in this report <br />were based upon an analysIs of stream gaging dllta at the U.S.G.S. <br />s-treamgageslo<;atednearDrakeandLaSallefortheBigThompson <br />River and neareerthoud for the Little Thompson River. Informa- <br />tion on these stream gages waS presented in table 2, Bec~use <br />there are no streamflow gaging r~ords between the La Salle gaga <br />and the upstream limit of eaCh study, synthetic discharge- <br />probability relationships were developed for the intervening <br />drainage area using unit hydrographs and flood routing technioues <br />i1ndrainfllllprobilbilitiesfromU.S.WeatherBureauTechnical <br />Publication NO. 40. The following table presents discharge data <br />used in this report. <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />22 <br />