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. . . DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM Project Location: The project is located in and adjacent to the Town of Wiley, which is within Prowers County, Colorado. -See Section VII of the project report for a more detailed description of the project area. A project location map is given in the attachments Photographs of the project location are also given in the attachments. Federal Disaster Declaration: The project is entirely within the federally declared disaster area for disaster # DR-l 186-CO. Damage Survey Reports Information on DSR's for the 1997 flood disaster have not been included in this report. Completed DSR's for this project area (if applicable) have been filed with the Colorado Office of Emergency Management and FEMA Region 8. There are no previously completed flood mitigation projects and no previously declared flood disasters for this project area. Project Area Description WIley is located in southeastern Colorado within the Arkansas River basin. It is within Prowers County, and is located approximately 8 miles northwest of Lamar, and approximately 110 miles east of Pueblo. WIley is located mainly along the west side of the Wiley Drainage Ditch, which drains a total area of about 72 square miles at the downstream end of town. The ditch drains from north to south, and empties directly into the Arkansas River several miles west of Lamar. The WIley Drainage Ditch is subject to flash flooding from rainfall events, where the runoff is dependent on the amount and duration of the rainfall, the antecedent soil moisture conditions, the vegetative/crop cover, and other factors. The most flood prone housing areas within town are located at the north end of town on the upstream side of Highway 196. There have been several high water events on the Wiley Drainage Ditch at Wiley. The most recent high water occurred during 1995. A storm on May 26, 1995 dumped heavy rain and hail over the basin. The flooding caused damage to homes, bridges, roadways, vehicles, equipment, livestock, fann lands, wells, drop structures, inigation flumes, and other features. The drainage ditch itself incurred damage in the form of bank erosion, channel scour, and debris accumulation. Another major storm over the WIley drainage basin in 1995 occurred on June 3rd. That storm produced heavy rainfall without hail. Flooding from the June 3rd event was not quite as severe as the May 26th event, however high water caused substantial damages in Wiley for the second time during 1995. Additional high water occurred in the summer of 1997 as a result of heavy rain in portions of southeastern Colorado.