FLOOD03369 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

SmlllI Projects Under Corps of Engineers Continuing Authorities The Corps constructed the Las Animas Local flood Protection Project within the vicinity of Las Animas in 1978 under the Section 204 Small flood Control Project program. Although the Las Animas project provides a high degree of protection, the city is stilI subject to inundation by infrequent large magnitude storms. The project consists of a levee 9.6 miles long on the south bank of the Arkansas River and another levee about one mile long on the north banIe Over the years, the Corps of Engineers has also utilized other special Continuing Authorities to provide 32 small emergency flood control projects along the Arkansas River and its major tributaries. These projects consist of snagging and chamlel clearing (Section 208), emergency streambank protection (Section 14)), and emergency repairs to existing flood control works (Public Law 84-99). Most of the projects have been in or near the cities and towns Canon City, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta, and Las Animas upstream of John Martin Dam, and Granada and Holly below the dam. Following a large flood on May 20,1955. the Corps of Engineers constructed an Emergency Levee Project for the unincorporated area known as North La Junta, westward from the State Route 109 (Main Street) bridge to Third (Plum) Street. The following year in June 1956, the Corps of Engineers constructed a small spoil blink levee in North La Junta as part of a Section 208 small snagging and clearing project. The spoil bank levee was an incidental feature to serve as a cost effective disposal site for material dredged from the river channel. The larger spoil bank levee incorporated the levee constructed the previous year. The channel project extended 6,600 feet, while the levee extended 6,250 feet. Both stmted upstream where the Fort Lyons Irrigation Canal wasteway enters the Arkansas River nem' Jackson A venue. The levee continued down to near Melon Avenue (3,500 feet downstream of the State Route 109 Bridge), while the channel dredging extended 350 feet further downstream. The levee was not designed for a specific flood event. Three years later in 1959, the Corps of Engineers added protection to the spoil bank levee under the Section 14 emergency streambank protection program. Construction by Other Agencies Minor local protection projects consisting of levees, flood ways, and channel improvements were constructed by the Works Progress Administration and by local interests. Projects under these programs were constructed at Fountain and MoJlument Creek at Colorado Springs; Ruxton and Fountain Creeks at Manitou Springs; Fountain Creek at Pueblo; Purgatoire River at Trinidad; Cucharas River at Walsenburg; and the Arkansas River and Anderson and King Arroyos at La Junta. Projects were also constructed at various locations along the Arkansas River to protect farmlands. The former Soil Conservation Service (Natural Resource Conservation Service) constructed a number of floodwater retarding strUctures under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (public Law 566, as amended). Local interests have constructed levees along the Arkansas River at La Junta, but they are substandard in design and materials. These levees are generally ineffective in preventing large floods and in some instances, such as during the 1965 flood, may have actually increased the damages. Additionally, local interests have Post Flood Assessment Report Chapter 2 - History of Flooding and Flood Protection 11 Draft Revised 09/09/99