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<br />Estimated Dollar Amount of Damlages Prevente.d <br /> <br />Flood damages include direct damage to buildings imd contents, damages to roads imd bridges, and <br />several forms of indirect damages. In the case of the Pa,wnee Creek overflow, buildings subject to <br />damage include both residential and commercial. Significimt damage: to crop lands can also result <br />from flooding. Examples of indire'~t damages include: Loss of sales: removal of debris; damage to <br />public utilities; and loss of rentals. <br /> <br />Five categories of flood damages we:re estimated, as follows: <br /> <br />I. LOiiS of Life <br /> <br />2. Direct Darnages <br /> <br />3. Indirect Damages, Including Loss of Sales Tax <br /> <br />4. Secondary Damages <br /> <br />5. Intlmgible Darnages <br /> <br />l&s.s of Life: Loss of life is considered unlikely under the I OO-year flood condition, becausc the depth <br />of inundation is seldom more than 5 feet and the rise of water level would be gradual enough for <br />almost anyone to reach safety during a flood. Drainageways are always potential hazards, and possible <br />loss of life may in fact occur, but for purposes oflJlis analysis, no loss of life was considered. <br /> <br />Direct Damages: Direct damages comprise the largest damage category and they can b(~ expressed in <br />monetary values with a fair degree of accuracy. In urban areas, direct damages occur primarily to <br />buildings and to public facilities such as bridges, roads, utilities, and related facilities. Rural areas <br />direct damage relates primarily to loss of crops, loss of out-buildings, cleanup, and work required to <br />return fields to usable condition. Flood damage to property is a function of the type of property, <br />property value, replacement cost, velocity of flood flow, and the depth of flood water. Depth of flood <br />water at each building, or groups of buildings was calculated for various frequency events. Calculated <br />flood depths were increased by velodty head to account for the flood flow velocity effect. No records <br />of the value of building contents are available, and the contents of buildings are therefore estimated to <br />be either 30 percent of the value of the structure (residential) or 50 percent (commercial). Damages to <br />bridges, culverts, and flumes was not assumed unless th,e Hood water levels exceed the top of the <br />waterway opening. Structures were assumed to be lost at a damage: value equal to their present <br />estimated replacement cost. Direct flood damage to wakr, sewer, gas, electrical and telephone lines <br />was estimated from City maps. Erosion damage along the waterways imd clean-up costs following a <br />flood were estimated to be a function of waterway reach length. Erosion damage and dean-up costs <br />were assigned only to improved channels, not to unimproved channel reaches. Crop damage wa~ <br />assumed to be the value of one season's production. Based on discussions with the Department of <br />Agriculture, it was assumed that the average production value per acre for farmland in the Pawnee <br />Creek drainage basin is $500/acre. Direct damage for the City of Sterling was taken from the Flood <br />Plain Information and Drainage Plan prepared in May, 1983 by Leaf and Resource Consultants. This <br />report was the basis for the current FIRM mapping for the City. Damage figures were updated using <br />inflation figures from the Colorado Department of Revenue. <br /> <br />III-36 <br />