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Flood of 30-31 May 1935. This flood was caused by several small storm cells centered over the extreme upper reaches of the Kiowa Creek basin, Rainfall amounts up to 24 inches in a 12-hour period were reported. At the small town of Kiowa, Colorado, 15 houses were swept away and several stores were wrecked. Estimated peak discharges on Kiowa Creek for this event were 43,500 cubic feet per second at Elbert just below the junction of Kiowa and West Kiowa Creeks, 110,000 cubic feet per second at a site about 11 miles downstream from Kiowa, and 75,300 cubic feet per second near Bennett. Water in Wiggins was several feet deep. Flood of 17-18 June 1965. A large storm system which was centered over the Bijou Creek Basin to the east extended into the upper reaches of the Kiowa Creek Basin. The largest rainfall amount reported was 14 inches, most of which fell in a single 3-hour period. Peak discharge estimates for this event were 41,500 cubic feet per second at a site just upstream from West Kiowa Creek, 19,700 cubic feet per second at Kiowa. and 24,900 cubic feet per second near Bennett. Of 69 floodwater retarding structures built by the SCS in the Kiowa Creek Basin, 30 were filled to capacity and in some cases emergency spillway flow depths were as high as 35 feet. 4.4 CACHE LA POUDRE Flood HistolV. Annual peak flows on the Cache la Poudre River normally occur In the period May through September. with about 70 percent occurring in June. Although most floods result from Intense rainfall In the basin, snowmelt runoff Is a factor and the worst potential flooding condition Is that of heavy rains at a time when snowmelt runoff is highest, In Mayor June. Notable floods on the Cache la Poudre River In the study reach occurred In 1844. 1864, 1884, 1891, 1904, 1923, and 1930. There were apparently three large floods of comparable size in 1864, 1891, and 1904. All of these floods peaked near 21,000 cubic feet per second. The 1904 flood was probably the worst flood in terms of dollar damages. Flood of 1844. Although it is known that severe flooding occurred in the basin in 1844 as a result of heavy snow cover and intense rainfall, the area was so sparsely settled at that time that no accurate record was made of the effects of the flooding in the lower basin. One description of that flood was in a letter written by Antoine Janis, a French trapper on the river near the present site of Laporte. He wrote "On the first day of June 1844, I stuck my stake on a claim in the valley, , . At that time the streams were all very high." Flood of June 1864, An extra heavy snowpack augmented by a rainstorm on 9 June 1864 resulted in further flooding on the Cache la Poudre River. Historian Ansel Watrous wrote of the 1864 flood: "Fort Collins..... owes its origin and first place on the map to the intervention of a flood Colorado Flood Hydrology Manual 4.5 fP/1FT