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<br />North St. Vrain & St. Vrain Creeks <br />Floodplain Update <br /> <br />Town of Lyons <br /> <br />North St. Vrain & St. Vrain Creeks <br />Floodplain Update <br /> <br />Town of Lyons <br /> <br />Excerpts from the article appearing in: "Longmont Ledger" <br />Friday-June 10,1921 <br /> <br />1938 FLOOD <br />Longmont Times-Call <br />Saturday, September 3, 1938 <br /> <br />The Great Rain <br /> <br />Two Bridges On 52 Are Out <br /> <br />To tell the story of the great rain of Friday, June 3, and the night following, one hardly knows where to commence or <br />stop, <br /> <br />Two bridges on Highway 52, constructed during the past year, have been washed out by the high waters making <br />travel on this highway to the County line impassable, These bridges will have to be replaced, The approaches to the <br />bridges were also damaged, But otherwise the oiled highway was not damaged, <br /> <br />The heavy rain commenced about 2 o'clock Friday afternoon, and by the next morning 4.4 inches had fallen and by <br />Monday morning 5,39, according to the sugar company's records, The first section of rain was short but hard", <br /> <br />Traffic over the St. Vrain bridge south of the sugar factory was dangerous Saturday morning as it way feared it might <br />be carried away, <br /> <br />The great mass of water was caused by the overtiow of ditches which swept through the city from northwest to <br />southeast, and after reaching Main Street ran down Fifth Avenue to the alley from Fifth Avenue to Fourth Avenue <br />between Kimbark and Emery Streets, <br /> <br />The river dam south of the sugar factory, from which water is secured during the campaign had been washed out. <br /> <br />The auditorium has perhaps suffered the most. Right in line of the overtiow of water from the northwest it was soon <br />in the middle of a flowing lake, and the inside of the auditorium filled with water, <br /> <br />Longmont Times-Call <br />Saturday, September 3, 1938 <br /> <br />By Tuesday morning, more rain had fallen and the factory records showed a fall of moisture of 5,87 inches, <br /> <br />Scores Of Families Flee Homes In Night As Flood Strikes Longmont <br /> <br />A bridge over a dry creek on the main road south sunk, but some real trouble occurred at the main bridge over the St. <br />Vrain, <br /> <br />Scores of families along the St. Vrain River near Longmont were driven from their homes Friday night when that <br />stream, swollen by cloudbursts in the mountain district, went out of its banks and flooded the low lands from First <br />Avenue south, <br /> <br />The Peterson bridge a coupie of miles east of Lyons is in bad shape one end of approach having been washed out <br />the same way only worse. It is on the road from Lyons to Boulder and cannot be used, <br /> <br />Another flood rolled into Longmont from the north, covered Roosevelt Park athletic field with nearly three feet of <br />water, filled basements in more than a hundred residences and places of business in the north and east sections of <br />Longmont. <br /> <br />The big bride about five miles east of Longmont over the St. Vrain after its junction with Boulder Creek has gone out. <br /> <br />The report came to Longmont Wednesday morning that the Foothills Reservoir was in danger, and that a large force <br />of men with sacks had gone up to mend the damage, There was considerable truth in the rumor for it seems to be a <br />fact that the ditch that carried the water to this reservoir was full and ordinary means of stopping its flow did not <br />succeed, so the men were called upon with the sacks to go and stop the ditch, then the reservoir would be safe, The <br />report was that the creek had changed its course and was flowing into the reservoir, which was not so, If it had been <br />the reservoir would not have lasted five minutes, <br /> <br />Highways leading into Longmont from all directions were under water but travel over them was possible at all times <br />Saturday morning, A number of service stations and other stores on North Main Street and along the highway south <br />remained closed when flood water covered the pavement from a foot to two feet in depth. <br /> <br />It has been said that if the ditches had not carried off an immense volume of water before they overtiowed Longmont <br />would have suffered a great deal more than it did, <br /> <br />By the overtlow of St. Vrain, Commodore Walker has lost all his buildings and his farm south of the sugar factory, <br />Barns and sheds went first and then the house commenced to topple over and an allempt was made to save it but of <br />no avail. <br /> <br />We have endeavored to obtain an idea as to losses to crops, if any, from excessive rains, and find that there may be <br />some wheat knocked down, some beet fields flooded so that the extent of damage may come out. We have heard <br />lillle or no complaint. J,M. Anderson of Longmont reports that he has twenty.five acres of beets on Boulder Creek <br />that was under water from two to three feet on Tuesday, <br /> <br />Floodplain Information Report 15 <br />K:\35600\OO4\FLOODPLAIN INFORMATION REPORTdoc <br /> <br />June 1998 <br /> <br />Floodplain Information Report 14 <br />K:\35600\004\FLOODPLAIN INFORMATION REPORT..doc <br /> <br />June 1998 <br />