FLOOD06156

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Colorado's 1997 Flood Season in Review
• Date: 8/1/1998
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: Riverside Technology Inc.
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

Baca County

on the Cirnarron River approximately 10 miles downstream of the Colorado-
Kansas state line; it has a drainage area of 2,899 square miles. The elevation
of Carrizo Creek ranges from 4,800 to 6,600 feet, while the Cimarron River's
elevation at the state line is approximately 3,600 feet.

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The headwaters of Two Butte Creek lie adjacent to those of Carrizo Creek
upstream in Las Animas County. Further downstream in Las Animas
County, the Bear Creek headwaters separate Carrizo and Two Butte creeks;
Bear Creek eventually flows into the Arkansas River.

4.1.3 Local Flooding Problems

Tributaries in Baca County, induding Carrizo Creek and Cimarron River,
historically have experienced nuisance flooding during the summer months
because of highly localized storms. However, Two Butte Creek flooded for
the first time in 22 years during the storm events of 1997.

The incorporated areas seldom experience significant flooding problems. For
example, the Town of Springfield is built near the divide between two creek
channels within the Bear Creek watershed and rarely experiences any
flooding.

4.1.4 Storm Characteristics

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Although Baca County experienced widespread flooding during the summer
of 1997, the type of storms in the southeastern region of Colorado were at a
lower intensity than those observed in the northeastern counties. While
counties in northeastern Colorado experienced bullseyes of extreme,
short-duration precipitation, the summer storm pattern in Baca County
produced numerous storms with moderately heavy rainfall over a few days.
Table 4.1-1 summarizes those storms that produced over 1 inch of rain in a
24-hour period in July and August of 1997.

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Although the storms in the latter two dates caused damaging floods, limited
information is available for these storms. Therefore, the primary focus of this
discussion is on the storm that produced rainfall through the evening hours
of August 5 and into the morning of August 6. While the entire county
witnessed some rainfall, the precipitation intensity was greatest south of
Walsh and down through Stonington.

The nearest weather station that recorded multiple types of atmospheric data
is located 51 miles northwest of Walsh in the Prowers County Seat, Lamar.
Daily data was collected at this station for each of the four events identified
in Table 4.1-1. A summary of this data is presented in Table 4.1-2.

d479/chaP4-1.doc 08/12/98

4.1-3