Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Pueblo Flood Hozard Mitieation Plan <br /> <br />damage included furnaces and water heaters <br />located in basements where most of the <br />substantial flooding resulted. WestPlains <br />Energy was asked to turn off electricity in <br />tWp homes. WestPlains, Public Service and <br />R&gional Building Authority were able to <br />re~pond without employing emergency <br />techniques sueh as overtime, and emergency <br />crews, <br /> <br />City Parks and Reereation did not reeeive <br />immediate ealls and were able to respond on <br />regular time. Friday they began eleaning up <br />the trails and parks, Sinee many of the trails <br />and parks are designed to absorb water in <br />the flood plain, there were major washouts, <br />often because of plugged eulverts, and the <br />river trails were covered with mud and water <br />in some areas, City Park was flooded <br />considerably and the storm system there <br />needs to be replaced, An estimated 200 <br />person hours were spent eleaning trails to <br />make them passable, <br /> <br />Bessemer Ditch Company also reeeived <br />damage to the ditch in the south side <br />neighborhood near Lake Avenue between <br />Crystal Place and Adams Avenue, Portions <br />of its banks washed out and caused some of <br />its fencing to be destroyed as well. One <br />response aetion could have been to elose the <br />gate that carries the water from Pueblo Dam <br />through Bessemer Ditch, but it would,have <br />taken approximately 6 to 8 hours for the <br />water to recede enough for the ditch to then <br />hold significant runoff and rainfall. After 6 <br />to 8 hours the runoff had already dissipated <br />naturally, The ditch is about 6 feet deep and <br />about 30 feet wide at the top (a little less at <br />the bottom), The flow runs relatively slow, <br />averaging 1\6 to 2 miles per hour, The ditch <br />was built in 1891 and extends 34 miles east <br />Some residents near the diteh reponed the <br /> <br />ditch overflowed, Others say runoff from <br />Northern Avenue was so great that it ran <br />onto the ditch and down the sides, <br /> <br />Possibly the ditch played a role in some <br />flooding in the south side area beeause, in <br />this area, the homes are about 4 to 8 feet <br />lower than the ditch, When the rain fell hard <br />and the storm drains eould not remove it fast <br />enough, the runoff pooled and the ditch <br />aeted as a kind of a dam. Runoff hit the <br />"dam" and either pooled or bouneed back <br />into yards and homes, The woman in the <br />picture (next page) lived right next to the <br />diteh and just behind Northern Avenue <br />(whieh carried quite a flow of water), The <br />only thing between her home and the ditch <br />is a paved parking lot <br /> <br /> <br />Ms. Mascarenas points to the high water mark on her home. <br /> <br />16 <br />