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<br />the calculated 50-year frequency flood event. A 19,000 <br />charge was recorded on the Roaring Fork River in 1957. <br />is equivalent to the calculated 50-year frequency flood <br />(Reference 2). <br /> <br />cfs dis- <br />This flood <br />event <br /> <br />No significant low-lying areas exist along the Colorado River, but <br />two can be found on the Roaring Fork Riverl one is a trailer park <br />and the other is an area near the sewage treatment plant. <br /> <br />Numerous severe floods occurred in the areas studied by approximate <br />methods. These floods were caused by short, intense thunderstorms <br />and were accompanied by mud and debris flows. Long-time residents <br />of the area report that floods occurred in the early 1930s and <br />mid-1940s, although no newspaper accounts can be located. <br /> <br />More recent floods occurred on July 24, 1977, and July 12, 1981. <br />The 1977 floods took place on the afternoon and evening of July 24, <br />following a period of prolonged drought. A brief, but very intense, <br />thunderstorm generated debris flows and mud floods in many of the <br />watersheds draining onto the southern two-thirds of the city. <br />Flooding affected nearly 200 acres within the city, leaving mud <br />and debris deposits of up to 4 feet near the fanheads and sheets <br />of silty mud 2 to 4 inches deep between Grand and Glen Avenues and <br />the Roaring Fork River. Initial estimates of the damage were as <br />high as $2 millionl however, the final tallies indicated that a <br />figure on the order of $500,000 was probably closer to the actual <br />total. This translated to a per capita cost of between $50 and <br />$100 (Reference 6). <br /> <br />The July 12, 1981, flood was in many respects a smaller version of <br />the 1977 event. Approximately $100,000 in damage resulted. As in <br />1977, the floods occurred after an unusually dry winter and spring. <br />Smaller debris flows, mudflows, and waterflows followed throughout <br />the summer, although none achieved the magnitude of the July 12 <br />event (Reference 6). Photographs of the flooding are shown in <br />Figures 2 through 7. <br /> <br />Because of the well-defined channels of the rivers in the Glenwood <br />Springs area, there are no problem flood areas, with the exception <br />of existing houses located on the alluvial fans of the small basins <br />around Glenwood Springs. <br /> <br />2.4 Flood Protection Measures <br /> <br />The Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers exist in deep channels. There <br />are no authorized flood-control structures in the study areal there- <br />fore, none are under investigation. A series of major water-supply <br />storage reservoirs exist in the upstream areas of both basins, but <br />these reservoirs are not specifically designed for flood control. <br /> <br />Flood protection facilities in the areas studied by approximate <br />methods consist of the Cemetery Gulch on the 12th Street drainageway <br /> <br />6 <br />