FLOOD02591 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Table2 MonumentCreekSulJ.ba~ins Sub-Basin Area (sq.mi.) Typ< are common during the summer months, and are typified by quick.moving low pressure cells which draw moiSllIre from the Gulf of Mexico into the region. Average temperatureS range from about 300p in the winter to 750F in the summer. The relative humidity ranges from about 25 percent in the summer to 4S percent in the winter. Winter predpitation is in the fonn of snow. The moisture so...rce in the wimer is generally the Pacific Ocean. Winter storms typically track from west to east and the majority of the snowfall occurs in the higher mountains to the west. The wimer months are typically the driest portion of the year. Snow pack in the basin is generally light and. therefore,springtime runoff is generally light. Upper Monument Creek Raspberry MOllntain Palmer Lake Monument Rock Dirty Woman Creek Teachout Creek Beaver Creek Jackson Creek Black Forest Smith Creek Monument Branch Middle Trihutary Air Force Academy Black Squirrel Creek Elkhom Kettle Creek Dry Creek South Pine Creek C'-<monwood Cred Pine Creek Pulpit Rock North Rockrimrnun South Rockrimmon Popes Bluff Douglas Creek Templeton Gap Roswell Papeton Mesa MonurnentVallev 23.2 2.4 4.6 4.2 5.4 2.6 27.1 53 3.9 S.4 3.8 1.4 44.6 11.1 2.7 19.6 5.6 4.9 20.4 4.7 2.2 2.2 L2 0.6 10.2 11.0 1.1 2.4 4.2 0.7 Right Bank Left Bank Right Bank Left Bank Left Ban.k Right Bank Left Bank Left Bank Left Bank Left Bank Left Bank Right Bank Left Bank LeftBan.k Left Bank Right Bank Left Bank Left Bank Left Bank Left Ban.k Right Ban~ Right Bank Right Bank Right Bank left Bank left Bank Left Bank Right Bank. left Bank AoodHislOrv Colorado Springs has endured a long history of flooding alODg Monument Creek. Early reports are mainly eyewitness accounts documented in newspaper articles. These articles describe: floods as "walls of water" and "torrents", and precipitation a.~ "...came down, not ill drops. but in floods". Many floods were described as "...highest known up to that time". Damage reports and loss of life statistics sometimes contradict each other from paper to paper. Stream gage data was non-existcnt prior 10 the insta!lation of gages in 1938. Gagedata records ex:ist for Monument Creek at Pikcview from 1939 to 1949 and from 1976 to the present. However. no significant flood event occurred during thi~ period of record. Therefore, records of eyewitness accountS provide the only information available to document hisloric floods. 111 general, flood reponsdescribe storms of short dl.ll1ttioll and of great lmeniiity usually pr"<.'('(l,,,tt>yap<,rirviofwirle<preadprecipitation. Rood prodllcillj: rainfall has been reported as high a.~ 14 to 18 inches. Snowfall and snowmelt has not been reported to be a faclOr in flooding. Inshort,floodeventshavebc:encausedbycloudburstactivityoverpreviousIy saturated ground. Perhaps the best flood documentation ex:ists in the Department of Waler Resources 28th Biennial Report of the Stale Engineer 10 the Governor of ColoraM. The City Engineer of Co!oradoSpringsmarleaslope-areadeterminationofthepeakdischargeoftheMay30,I'HS, flood and the following report: TOTAL 238.7 "C%ra,];) Sprin?,s Flood n the flood at C,,/oraoo Springs on rhe Monument Creek. a tributary of the Fnuntai,. River. originated 2 mi. northwest of Colorado Sprinf?s about 10:30 a.m., May 301935, and lasted from 2 10 2-1/2 hr. The cnek reached flood stage about 12:30 p.rn.. ,rest elevation abow 2 p.rn" and had readed somewlwt by 3:30 p.m. The peuk di,~charge, as dcrermined by F.G. Ruy, dr.' engim:er ofC%rudo Springs, wus 50,000 .~er./t. This flood ')II Monwnenl Cred, is the greatest of ...hich Iherl' is any record. and created rklmages 10 properly in Colorado Springs estimaled at $750.o0(J and Ihelossofthreelives." !n.S