FLOOD02211

• County: Eagle
• Community: Vail
• Stream Name: Bighorn Creek
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Title: 2003 Flood Documentation Report, Vail Colorado Flood of May 31st, 2003
• Date: 1/1/2004
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

CHAPTER 1

Vail, Colorado Flood of May 31 ",2003
1-70 Drainage Culvert - Bighorn Creek's Confluence with Gore Creek
(Eagle County, Colorado)

Introduction

On Saturday, May 31 '\ 2003, a tllllllderstonn
released a significant amollllt of rainfall on the Vail,
Colorado area in Eagle COlllIty. RllllOffwas
significantly increased on Bighorn Creek, which is a
tributary of Gore Creek just upstream o[Vail. The
combination of rainfall on snowmelt compollllded
the event. Significant damage occurred in the to\Vll
o[Vail with the most severe impact being the
formation of a large sinkhole along Interstate
Highway 70 at the Bighorn Creek crossing. 1-70 is
a major east-west thoroughfare in the state, and the
resulting damage forced the temporary closure of
the Interstate in both directions.

Figure 1.1 - Eagle County Location in the
State of Colorado.
Map courtesy ofthe Colorado Herpetological Society.

Residents throughout East Vail were evacuated using the city's reverse 911 system and in
some cases, by door to door visits by the local police and sheriff's department. According
to an official news release by the to\Vll of Vail, 133 homes were "...in the path of the
flooding with 28 of those residences receiving non-structural damage from debris and
flooding."

Vail, Colorado is located about 97 miles west of Denver along Interstate 70 in Eagle
COllllty (see Figure 1.3 on the next page). According to the 2000 Census, Vail's population

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Location and DescriDtion

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Figure 1.2 - Eagle Watershed and Location
Obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency's "Surf Your Watershed" website.

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S<tt~....2003