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<br /> <br />16 <br /> <br /> <br />; <br /> <br />'~ater coursed across Highway 287 in the area near the St. <br /> <br />Vrain Bridge, just south of Long!llont." <br />The Ledger for May 16, 1957, has a report: <br />"The rampaging St. Vrain River (sic) overflowed its banks last <br />week as a result of a four-inch rainstorm in the Long!llont area." <br /> <br /> <br />It would require a somewhat higher stage than that shown by <br /> <br /> <br />the photographs to cause flow over the highway - on the other hand, <br /> <br /> <br />the flow over the road may have been due to local runoff. Similarly, <br />the creek obviously was not overflowing its banks at the place and <br /> <br />time the photographs were taken. However, there are places in the <br /> <br />vicinity of Long!llont where the capacity of the main channel is not <br /> <br />as great as it is in the vicinity of the highway bridge, and it may <br />have been at these points that the creek "overflowed its banks". <br />The flow of the creek at Lyons was quite high in the early part <br />of May 1957, probably mostly from snowmelt, but heavy rains in the <br />foothills and in the Plains region appear to have had a major role <br />in causing the floods at Longmont. <br /> <br />Some of the erosion caused by the early May floods is shown by <br /> <br /> <br />the photographs in figure 7. In addition, the Times-Call of May 13, <br /> <br /> <br />1957, carried a picture showing severe damage to the abutments of <br /> <br /> <br />the bridge at Sunset Drive. The Times-Call of May 9, 1958, has a <br /> <br /> <br />picture showing the Sunset Drive bridge collapsed with an accompanying <br /> <br /> <br />report: <br /> <br /> <br />"The bridge was closed in May 1957 when water washed out the <br />