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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION <br /> <br />Community DescriDtion <br /> <br />Bent County is located in the eastern plains of southern Colorado, Las Animas is the county seat of <br />Bent County and is located approximately 80 miles east of Pueblo, The population of Las Animas <br />has been fairly stable, with a population of about 2,500, A majority of the land surrounding the city <br />is used for agricultural purposes, State Highway 50 is the major east-west highway that passes <br />through the northern part of Bent County and Las Animas, Bent County is bounded by Kiowa <br />County to the north, Prowers County to the east, Baca and Las Animas Counties to the south, and <br />Otero County to the west. The area studied for the FHBM is the unincorporated areas of Bent <br />County as of November 15, 1977, <br /> <br />Watershed DescriDtion <br /> <br />The Arkansas River flows through Bent County and through or near the towns of Las Animas and <br />Caddoa, John Martin Reservoir is located on the mainstern of the Arkansas River between those <br />two towns, The reservoir was constructed by the Corps of Engineers and was completed in October <br />of 1948, The reservoir project is a part of the comprehensive plan for the control of floods and the <br />development of water resources in the Arkansas River Basin, The reservoir provides for <br />conservation and recreation purposes, and supplies water to irrigated lands in both Colorado and <br />Kansas, There are several large tributaries that join the Arkansas River within Bent County, <br />including the Purgatoire River. Adobe Creek, Rule Creek, and Breckenridge Creek, All of those <br />tributaries join the Arkansas River upstream of John Martin Reservoir, <br /> <br />Floodinl! Problems and F100din1! Historv <br /> <br />Flooding in Bent County generally occurs during the summer months as a result of flooding from <br />general rainstorms or severe thunderstorms, General rainfall flooding is characterized by high peak <br />flows with a large volume over a moderate duration, Thunderstorms, sometimes lasting for several <br />hours, can cause high peak flows with a smaller volume over a short duration, Flooding is more <br />severe when antecedent rainfall has resulted in saturated ground conditions, <br /> <br />There have been numerous floods in the past on the Arkansas River and its tributaries in Bent <br />County, The largest flood of record at Las Animas occurred in June 1921 with a peak flow of <br />187,000 cfs, There was a peak flow of about 22,100 cfs on the Arkansas River at Las Animas <br />during June of 1965, which was the sixth highest peak flow of the 1921 to 1965 period, ill 1965, <br />much larger flood flows occurred downstream of the John Martin Dam, illflows from the south <br />bank: tributaries between the dam and Holly produced unprecedented flow in the Arkansas River <br />between Lamar and Great Bend, Kansas, On June 17, 1965 the Arkansas River peaked at an <br />estimated 200,000 cfs at Holly, <br /> <br />2 <br />