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<br />. <br /> <br />CHAPTER <I ~ FLOODING PROBLEMS Al\'D CHARACTERISTICS <br /> <br />FLOOD HISTORY <br /> <br />DRY CREEK <br />Little or no information is available on the flood history along Dry Creek in the <br />Fort Collins area. The 1980 Dry Creek drainageway plan repons that "Flooding did <br />occur in the Dry Creek basin in 1924, with flows several feet deep at the present <br />location of Jax Surplus. However, it is unclear as to whether this was actually due <br />to overflows from the Poudre River." The network ofUrigation canals that cross the <br />Dry Creek flood plain has some capacity for intercepting Dry Cuek flows and, to a <br />large degree, is the reason why Dry Creek had nOI in the past experienced much <br />flooding from the more frequent flood events. <br /> <br />The impact of urban development in the lower basin has already increased the <br />magnitude and frequency of flood flows. The irrigation canals have limited C<lpacity <br />to intercept these increased flows. This jXlscs a serious increased potential for <br />flooding in Fon Collins, especially below Larimer and Weld Canal. The irrigation <br />canal companies are concerned about their potential liability if a flood event should <br />OCCur and IneJr canal would fail. <br /> <br />BOXELDER CREEK <br />Floods from Boxelder Creek have resulted from cloudburst-type intense rainfaijs <br />in the upper basin. The most severe flooding has occurred during the months of May <br />through August. Acoording to the drainageway plan dated August 1981, floods <br />OCCurred in the Boxelder Creek basin in 1904, 1909,1922,1930, 1933, 1937, 1947, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />4-1 <br /> <br />196I,I963,196S,]967,and 1969. A summary of the historic flooding is discussed in <br />the following par.lgraphs. There is no offieial gaging station in the basin, and there <br />are no records of measured flood flows. <br /> <br />The flood of20 and 21 May 1904 resulted from a cloudburst in the foothills near <br />the headwaters of the North Fork of the Cache La Poudre River and Boxelder <br />Creek. Fort CoUins sustained heavy damages; however, no information on the <br />monetary losses is available. A newspaper account in the Greelev Tribune stated, <br />"The Boxelder, a small stream ordinarily only a few feet wide, was tearing down <br />through a fertile valleyftlled from bluff to bluff with a sheet of water a mile wide, <br />carrying buildings and hridges away. ..." <br /> <br />Information on the flood events between 1909 and 1947 is not available. <br />Information on flood events experienced during the 1960's was obtained in 1969 <br />from landowners in the flood plain. A summary of these floods, including estimated <br />magnitude and damages as con.tained in the 198] dninageway plan, follows: <br />. I August 1961. One 50- to lOO-year-fre(juenc)" storm ncar Wellington, <br />Colol"'.Ido. Forty hasements were flooded in addition to agricultural and <br />nonagricultural crops and property, with damages estimated at $76,000; <br />. June 1963. One 25- to 5Q-year-frequency storm over a small aru, with <br />damages cstimated atS7,OOO; <br />. 14 10 17 June 1965. One 2-year~, two less than 2-year-, and one 25-year- <br />frequency Storm with some overlapping of areas, with damages estimated at $96,000; <br />. 30 May and 4 June 1967. Two 2S-year frequeney storms which overlapped an <br />area near Wellington, with estimated damages of $46,000 and a loss or four lives at <br />a county road bridge washout: <br />. <I August 1969. A Jess than 2-year-fTequency storm occurred over a small <br />area. with damages estim.ared at $4,000. <br /> <br />4-2 <br /> <br />:-I <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br />