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E50 FLOODS OF 1'965 IN THE UNITED STATES . . ~. " o ~ ~ , Z '&..2 o " ;: ~1. <( ~..:i Z "'.... t S <( E g.S ....J .3.."'" Q. ~.8~ X 't:IjE- W .g~ ~ ~ . S* --.'\, "' a;, ~ "8 ~ o . S~RY OF FLOODS E51 . d ~ ~ '" ~ z .s ~ '" '0 i " i " 's. ~ ~ ~ ~. ~ -a: .",.. t " '0' ~ ~ ol' i s ~ on the 8th resulted in an additional 3.61 inches of rain at Fri!!nd and possibly larger amounts elsewhere in the basin. Extensive erosion was observed along the creek channel arrd in adjacent cultivated fields. In a short period of time on June 9 and 10, 3-9 inches of rain fell in the eastern part of the Pumpkin Creek basin. Rainfall of 3.30 inches was measured in Bridgeport between 1700 hours on June 9 and 1700 hours on June 10. Ranchers living a few miles west of.Redington reported 6-9 inches, and a rancher living 4 miles southeast of Reding- ton reported 7 inches during the night of June 9-10. Areas between these points may have received even greater amounts, The resulting peak discharge of Pumpkin Creek at the gaging station 4 miles south- east of Bridgeport (sta. 4) was more than 2% times the previous maxi- mum since records began in 1931 (table 19). Several bridges were destroyed, and highways were overtopped and closed to traffic, Drain- age .ditches near Redington along State Highway 88 were scoured to a depth of 12 feet. At the crest, the floodwaters in some reaches of Pumpkin Creek were about three-fourths of a mile wide. Rainfall of "cloudburst proportions" fell in the Sidney a.rea on June 14-15, The FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) rain gage at the Sidney Airport recorded 4.09 inches between 1300 and 1500 hours on the 15th; the actual duration may have been less than 2 hours. U.S. Weather Bureau Technical Paper 40 (1961) ascribes a recurrence interval of 100 years to a point rainfall of 4 inches in 6 hours in this area but does not extrapolate to a 4-inch raiDfall in 2 hours. Only light rainfall was observed June 14-15 at the Weather Bureau gages at Kimball and Potter, Flooding occurred in Sidney Draw and Sand Draw near Sidney. That in Sidney Draw inundated much farmland and isolated several farm homes on the 15th. Stage and discharge data were not collected in the draws, but the flood wave that passed the gaging station on Lodgepole Creek at Ralton (sta. 5) on the 16th was the second highest in the period of record beginning in 1951. A record -breaking flood discharge (the greatest since 1953) at White River tributary near Glen (sta. 1) resulted from high-intensity rain- fall on June 17th. The storm was of small areal extent, and very little or no rain was recorded at the Woather Bureau gages at Harrison, Agate, and Fort Robinson, on three sides of the flood area. Torrential rains in the upper part of the South Platte River basin on June 14-17 caused record-breaking floods which are described only briefly here but are documented fully by Matthai (1969). The flood discharge of June 21-24 on the South Platte River was measured at Paxton (sta. 6) and at North Platte (sta.1), and that on the Platte River was measured on the same days at Brady (ste. 8) and Cozad (sta. 9). Peak discharges at those sites and data for the previous o ~