FLOOD02643

• County: Denver
• Community: Northeastern Colorado
• Stream Name: South Platte and Tributaries
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Post Flood Report South Platte Floods of May-June 1973
• Date: 7/1/1974
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

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(8) South Platte River Levees and Channel Improvements.
T~is project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950 as
'l. unit of the South Platte River Pro,ject. It provided for a
system of continuous levees on the South Platte River fro",
r.ha tfield Dam 8 miles downstream to Denver, Colorado, and froll'
Denver approxinately 110 miles downstream to the ,1unction of St..
Vrain Creek and for levees and channel improvements, where needcll,
from St. Vrain Creek to the vicinity of Ft. ',lorgan, approxil'la.tely
1,2 miles downstream. The levee system would consist. of an
improved channel flanked on either side by an overbank section,
levees, and channel-control works involvinl': drop structures and
irrigation diversion structures. Since authorization, channel
improvements from Chatfield Dam to Denver have been added to tne
Chatfield Lake pro,ject and levee and channel improvements from
Denver to Fort Lupton, Colorado are considered a separate project.
The remaining nroject consists of a continuous levee system froll'
Ft. Lupton downstream 18 miles to the mouth of the St. Vrain
Creek and levee and channel improvements, where needed, from St.
Vrain Creek to the vicinity of Ft. Morgan, aTmroximately 1,2 miles
oownstream. This project and the Denver to Ft. Lupton nro,1ect
were classified "inactive" 4 January 19'74.

b. North Platte River basin. There are n0 existing or
authorized Corps of Engineers' flood-control projects within
the Wyoming portion of the North Platte River basin. In the
downstream reach of the basin, in western NebrasJc.a, the Corps'
Omaha District hRS constructed a runoff collection system Rnd
appurtenant channel control structures to control erosion in
GeriOl': Valley in the vicinity of the city of Gering. Runoff
from this intensively irrigated area enters the North Platte
River ,just downstream from the city. This Sl'lall drainage,
apT>roximately 90 square miles in area, does not make any
significant contribution to flows on the river, nor >ffiS it
affected by the 19'73 flood.

c. Platte River basin. The Loup and Elkborn Rivers are
left-bank tributaries of the Platte River and drain major uortions
of north-central and northeastern Nebraska. The Corps of Engineers
has completed local flood-protection projects for a number of
rural connnunities located, near these streams or tributaries
thereto. Neither the Loup nor the Elkhorn River were significantly
involved during the May-June 19'73 flood.

(1) ?alt Creek basin. Salt Creek, in eastern ilebrasKa,
is a right-bank tributary of the Platte River. Much of the flood
plains of the middle reach of the creek and of its upstream

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