My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Browse
Search
FLOOD02521
CWCB
>
Floodplain Documents
>
Backfile
>
2001-3000
>
FLOOD02521
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
1/25/2010 6:24:41 PM
Creation date
10/4/2006 10:57:30 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Floodplain Documents
County
Statewide
Community
State of Colorado
Stream Name
All
Basin
Statewide
Title
Reclamation's Role in Colorado Flood Control
Date
7/1/1965
Prepared For
State of Colorado
Prepared By
BOR
Floodplain - Doc Type
Educational/Technical/Reference Information
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
28
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
Show annotations
View images
View plain text
<br />Causes of Eastern Colorado Floods <br /> <br />Why is the eastern slope of Colorado, so prone to flooding? Geography <br /> <br /> <br />is the basic reason. <br /> <br /> <br />The eastern slope of Colorado has its back to the Rocky Mountains-- <br /> <br /> <br />a 12,000 to 14,000 foot wall which stretches from north to south. The <br /> <br /> <br />eastern slope faces the high plains which merge into the States of <br /> <br /> <br />Nebraska and Kansas. These States extend to the Missouri River which <br /> <br /> <br />joins the mighty Mississippi in its broad sweep to the Gulf of Mexico. <br /> <br /> <br />In addition to the massive western barrier, the eastern slope is <br /> <br /> <br />separated into drainage basins by divides which constitute' sub-barriers <br /> <br /> <br />running a general east-west course. <br /> <br /> <br />Moisture-laden, unstable, tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico can <br /> <br /> <br />sweep far inland and eventually impinge upon the wall of the Rocky <br /> <br /> <br />Mountains. At the same time, relatively cooler, drier air can sweep <br /> <br /> <br />down from the northern plains. When tremendous air masses with such <br /> <br /> <br />different characteristics meet head-on, and are deflected and hemmed in <br /> <br /> <br />by the mountain barrier, the unstable moisture-laden air from the south <br /> <br /> <br />can be triggered into unbelievably violent rain storms. <br /> <br /> <br />Such storms can be very erratic in their distribution and intensity <br /> <br /> <br />over the eas~c~n slope, probably due in part to the divides which extend <br /> <br /> <br />west to eest. Cne side of a divide can receive a relative trickle; the <br />other 8~da can receive a downpour. <br />The Ju~c 1965 flood in the South Platte River Basin was typical of <br />the fu:'Y <<hich nature can generate. However, there have been numerous <br /> <br />past floods in the area. <br /> <br />i <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.