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<br />promptly to the attention of the National Weather Service, the State Engineer, the <br />Colorado Climate Center, or other members of the Colorado Extreme Precipitation <br />Task Committee. <br /> <br />6) The list oflarge storms prepared during this project should be routinely updated so <br />that each new qualifYing extreme storm is included. It would also serve many useful <br />purposes long into the future to routinely document significant floods each year as a <br />part of an annual water resources publication seIies. Brief, descriptive flood reports <br />containing stream gauge readings, indirect measurements, precipitation reports, <br />discussions of antecedent conditions along with local photographs and discussions of <br />damage (similar to those published by Follansbee and Sawyer of the U.S. Geological <br />Survey back in 1948) would be heavily referenced. Flood documentation is easiest to <br />do and most accurate when completed promptly after each event while memories and <br />flood evidence are stilI intact. <br /> <br />7) Results from this study show that exceptionally heavy precipitation events similar to <br />the Big Thompson flood, although rare in a specific sense, can actually be expected to <br />occur somewhere in the state about once in any 10-20 year period. It is imperative <br />that there be a plan in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate these storms in the <br />future, documenting as well as possible rainfall intensities, magnitudes, areas and <br />durations and publishing and archiving results. This cooperative effort needs to be <br />strongly encouraged, since no one agency is currently responsible or funded to <br />perform such investigations. Agencies conc:emed about this matter should meet to <br />begin developing a cooperative interagency plan for conducting post analyses and <br />reconstructions of future "extreme storms." Plans must include a clear definition of <br />what constitutes an extreme storm so that ambiguity and confusion does not t;xist <br />among cooperators. <br /> <br />32 <br />