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COMMUNITY AND BASIN CHAIVlCTEIHSTICS geller,;! l_S::ondj,t ions The Town of Wiggins is located in the western part of Morgan County in northeastern Colorado, approximately 65 miles northeast of Denver and 15 miles west of Fort Morgan. There arE' no communities immediately adjacE!nt to Wig'gins which for the most part is surrounded by agric~ltural land. The population of Wiggins in 1989 was 521. The floodplain development in Wiggins is primarily residential and commercial. Most new development has taken place on the higher ground in the eastern part of the community, although many businesses which already exist in the floodplain expanded their physical pLants prior to the completion of the town's Flood Insurance Study in 1978. Kiowa Creek flows northward throu,jh a wide. flat floodplain west of Wiggins. Most of the drainage basin is covered with well-drained, sandy soil. The vegetative cover is sparse and consists of native pasture and rangeLand interspersed with areas of irrigated crops such as corn and wheat. The climate in Wiggins is typical of the plains region east of the Rocky Mountains. The mean annual temperature is 49 degrees Farenheit. with the warmest month being July (74F) and the coldest month being January (24.3F), The average annual precipitation in Wiggins is 13.2 inches, .rJo~(t History Two recorded floods from Kiowa CceE',j<; have damaged the Town of Wiggins. These floods occurred in June 1935 and May 1973. On Main Street, south of the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks. the 1935 flood reached a depth of 53 inches and the 1973 flood reached a depth of 41 inches. These floods were aggravated by the railroad tracks running from east to west through the town which acted as a dams when the flood waters of Kiowa Creek flowed north. The 1935 flood is equivalent to the 100-year event analyzed in the community'S original Flood Insurance Study (FIS). These floods inundated approximately 70 percent of the community. From the findings in the town's Flood Insurance Study, 80 percent of the community lies within the 100-year floodplain of Kiowa Creek, -2..