FLOOD06503

• County: Pueblo
• Community: Pueblo
• Stream Name: Fountain River
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: The Fountain River Flood Problem
• Date: 10/1/1965
• Prepared For: Pueblo County
• Prepared By: Pueblo Regional Planning Commission
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

THE FOUNTAIN RIVER FLOOD PROBLEM ~-
A Statistical Perspective, with Comments on Some Possibilities

The Fountain River flood of June 17, 1965, stands 19th in
the chronology of such events, within the Fountain Basin
which have been recorded in local history. Its magnitude,
as indicated by peak flow at Pueblo, although indirectly
determined due to the destruction of the regular gaging in-
strument, has been fixed by the U. S. Geological Survey
at 47,000 cubic feet per second on the basis of slope-area
measurements and calculations. This rate of flow is the
highest of record at Pueblo although it is approached by
early estimates of the 1864 flood (45,000 cfs) and of
floods in 1893 and 1894 (40,000 cfs). It rates about one-
third greater than the greatest previous "official" crests
of 35,000 cfs each, associated with the June, 1921 and May,
1935 storm runoffs. Its peak upstream, in the vicinity of
Fountain Village, reached the phenomenal figure of 110,000
cfs -- equal to the historic 1921 flow on the main stem of
the Arkansas River.

Although fortunately very little loss of human life
accompanied this most recent unleashing of the powers of
nature in the Fountain Watershed, a recurrent pattern of
material destruction and social costs displayed itself,
and once again focused attention on the perennial problem
of flood protection and prevention. Typically again, Pueblo,
as the urban community located at the receiving end of the
Fountain basin drainage funne~ suffered a consid~rable
concentration of damages. About 53 city blocks of resi~
dential lands were overflowed in the southeastern portion
of the city (See accompanying map) with the inundation of
370 homes and 59 businesses to a degree necessitating major