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<br />flood's crest. After the flood wave passed downstream, the aftermath <br />of debris, silt, and mud presented a scene of desolation which could <br />only partially suggest the heartbreak and despair of the flood victims. <br />In many instances, the losses suffered by property owners represented <br />the accumulated capital assets of a lifetime of hard work which were <br />destroyed in a brief period of less than an hour. <br /> <br />b. Below Denver. As the Plum Creek flood passed through Denver,' <br />it was joined by the flood discharge from Sand Creek which, together <br />with its tributary Toll Gate Creek, had just passed through another <br />sector of metropolitan Denver destroying bridges and private property. <br />The combined flows then passed on downstream in the South Platte <br />valley destroying or damaging roads, bridges, irrigation structures <br />and agricultural property in the irrigated areas of the valley. The <br />flood flows from the upper South Platte basin were joined successively <br />qy the floods coming out of the Cache LaPoudre River, Box Elder' <br />Creek, Crow Creek and Kiowa Creek. The flood crest gradually <br />diminished as it passed downstream in the South Platte River valley <br />until it was joined by the flood discharge from Bijou Creek which was <br />later computed to have been 466,000 cubic'feet per second. This flood <br />volume then increased the area of inundation and destruction for an <br />additional 190 miles along the South Platte River and approximately <br />35 miles along the Platte River valley downstream from North Platte, <br />Nebraska. The volume of flood flow contributed by the 'upper South <br />Platte River and Bijou Creek was joined by the flood discharges of <br />Badger and Beaver Creeks as the floods proceeded downstream toward <br />the Platte"River. " <br /> <br />c. Loss of life. The floods in the South Platte River basin <br />took 13 lives. Four lives were lost on Plum Creek, three on the <br />Cache LaPoudre River, two on Bijou Creek, two on Beaver Creek, and <br />one each on the Big Thompson River and Cherry Creek., <br /> <br />d. Urban areas affected. Among.the principal c1tiesin the <br />South Platte River basin, metropolitan'Denver suffered the greatest <br />" amount of damage~ Among the other principal cities in 'the' basin, only <br />Fort Collins, Colorado and Greeley, 'Colorado suffered flood damages <br />ranging from minor damages at Fort Collins to moderate damages at <br />Greeley, both :trom flooding on the Cache LaPoudre River. The smaller <br />cities of Brighton, Fort Morgan, Sterling, and Julesburg'in 'Colorado, <br />and Ogallala and North Platte'in Nebraska, suffered varying degrees <br />of lesser damages from overflow of the South'Platte River. In addition, <br />a number of Smaller towns located along the South Platte River and in <br />the various tributary basins sustained damages'rang1ng from relatively <br />minor to almost complete destruction. Major damages were inflicted <br />on the towns of Deer Trail and Byers in the Bijou Creek basin, and <br />the towns of Crook, Ovid and Brush in the lower South Platte basin. <br />In the Plum Creek basin, the towns' of Castle Rock, Sedalia, and <br />Louviers suffered heavy damages. <br /> <br />24 <br />