FLOOD03666

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: 1965 Flood Disasters in Colorado
• Date: 11/1/1965
• Prepared For: Colorado General Assembly
• Prepared By: Colorado Legislative Council
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

Wat.er Conservation Board and State Engineer's Office. However, the
committee sees no need for additional state financing at this time to
share the cost with local governmental units in obtaining l!quipment to
meet emergency situations or to help make the civil defense program
more attractive to the people and local governmental units. The com-
mi ttE!e believes that these are the responsi.bili ty of local government.

At the state level. the Office of Emergency Planning is a
federally-financed program in conjunction with the activities of the
programs under the Adjutant General. However, this office will cease
to function on July 1, 1966, unless the General Assembly appropriates
state funds to continue its operations. The committee believes that
the Adjutant General should integrate the operations of the Office of
Emergency Planning into the normal day-to.-day activities of the programs
under his direction.

As was mentioned earlier, the actions of local officials
du:ring the June emergency were quite commendable. Various local actiom
could be taken, however, to improve conditions for future disasters.
Local authorities generally need to institute regular insect and rodent
control programs and better routine control of the disposal of solid
wastes. Water and sewage plants built in the future should be located
in areas not vulnerable to flooding, and each community should make
provisions for its own system of comrrlUnic ation during an emergency. In
thi s latter connection, every local <~overnmental unit in the state,
whether involved in the June flood disasters or not, should take immedi-
ate steps to fulfill their part of ~le state disaster plan as soon as
it is adopted. (Appendix A contains. the text of a draft of this state
plan.) In light of the experience dlJring the June floods, as reported
to the committee, it is most essential that effort be devoted locally
to centralizing all disaster activities and operations.

So far as the future is concerned, there are two main courses
of action which may be taken to prevent floods or to minimize the
damages resulting from flooding water -- flood control projects and
flood plain regUlation. Flood control projects are essentially carried
out by the federal government through the Corps of Engineers and the
Bureau of Reclamation. Fortunately for the people of Colorado, several
flood control and reclamation projects have already been constructed in
this. state and others are planned. :tn the opinion of the committee
members, an over-all program of flood control should be agreed upon in
connection with the state's plan for the development of its water re-
sources, and representatives of the state, p61itical subdivisions of
the state, and the general citizenry should provi.de Congress with con-
tinuing evidence of their unified SUpport for the implementation of
this plan and the flood control projects necessary thereunder.

Had this unified support been evidenced several years ago, it
is quite likely that the Chatfield and Narrows Projects would have been
constructed and the damage to the South Platte River Basin from the
June floods would have been considerably reduced. But flood control
dams and reservoirs cannot provide total protection against the ravages
of nature. They can serve to help keep water away from man; keeping
miln away from water is another matter entirely, how€'ver, and requires
the exercise of power and responsibility by state and local governments.

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