FLOOD02918

• County: Denver
• Community: Denver
• Stream Name: South Platte River
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Estimation of Flood Depth-Damage Curves for Residential, Commercial and Industrial Properties in the Denver Region
• Date: 10/1/1977
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Prepared By: Wayne J. Grahm ‎(Master of Science Candidate at CSU)‎
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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within the Denver region but could not locate anything other than gross

estimates for large geographical areas. The situation has not recently

changed. The Urban Drainage and Flood Control District and its consultants

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are making very creditable attempts at estimating flood damages on the

various streams within the Denver region which they have, or are, studying.

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Wherever feasible, they are using the probably unbiased FIA depth-damage

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tables. In areas where the curves do not apply, their consultants determine

damages on an individual interview basis.

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Many people believe that buildings of one type, but of different values,

exhibit different depth-damage relationships. In order to analyze this,

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the author, once again, used the NFIA claim data from October, 1975 through

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June, 1977. Table 7 shows that the greater the value of the structure, the

less the damage, in percent of structure value, would be. But, the depth of

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flooding probably decreased as the value of the structure increases. This

could be determined by analyzing each individual claim. It is the author's

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belief that homes of low value are closer to flood sources and, therefore,

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experience greater flood depths than more expensive homes. from the same flood

event. With the data available to the author, no conclusion can be made as

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to whether structures of different value have different depth-damage relation-

ships.

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The author believes the best data available for estimating flood damages

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in the Denver region is available as a result of the implementation of the

National Flood Insurance Program. Because no Federal agencies, nor local

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water resource management agencies (including the Colorado Water Conservation

Board) had any good damage da~a for the Denver region, the author resorted

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to the use of the National Flood Insurors Association Interim Claim System

Depth Damage and Cost Statistics report for developing depth-damage curves.

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