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<br />4,13 BEAR CREEK <br /> <br />Flood Historv. Flooding on Bear Creek is typical of mountainous areas, with flash <br />floods resulting from intense rainfall over small areas, The source of a large percentage <br />of floods occurring on Mount Vernon and Bear Creeks at Morrison, Colorado, are storms <br />in the Genesee Mountain area. These floods are generally characterized by rapid <br />concentration of runoff, unusually high peak discharges, and almost equally rapid recession <br />time. Since 1876, 22 floods have been recorded in the Bear Creek basin ranging from <br />relatively minor to major floods causing considerable property damage and frequent loss <br />of life, Records indicate a total of 45 lives have been lost from floods in the basin. <br /> <br />Flood of 23 May 1876. One of the earliest reports of flooding on Bear Creek concems <br />a storm on 21 through 23 May 1876 which was reported by the Denver Tribune of 5 June <br />of that year, informs us that he has never seen such destruction in the region as resulted <br />from the late storm. He spent some days in the valleys of Soda and Bear Creeks and their <br />tributaries and found new gullies worn to the depth of 20 feet in the action of the raging <br />torrents." <br /> <br />Flood of 29 May - 1 June 1894. A widespread storm on 29 May through I June 1894, <br />in the vicinity of Morrison, produced a flood that caused the loss of bridges, railroad tracks, <br />houses, and destroyed the highway in the canyon. <br /> <br />Flood of 24 July 1896. Intense rainfall on 24 July 1896 centered on Cub Creek, a <br />tributary of Bear Creek near Evergreen. The following account was taken from the Rocky <br />Mountain News of 25 July 1896 and reprinted in the United States Geological Survey <br />Water Supply Paper No. 997 entitled 'Floods in Colorado." 'Without a moments warning <br />the largest flood that ever came down Bear Creek struck Morrison about 8 o'clock tonight <br />(July 24), sweeping everything in its path ... although the water came down through the <br />town nearly 3 feet deep in the main street, the buildings in the business section all <br />withstood it." Twenty-seven lives were lost in the flood (available records do not indicate <br />where the deaths occurred) and severe damages were reported from Evergreen to the <br />mouth of Bear Creek. No rainfall records of this flood are available. The peak flow on <br />Bear Creek at the Morrison gaging station was 8,600 cfs which is the flood of record. The <br />most recent hydrologic studies indicate that this flood would have a Hn-40 chance of <br />occurring in any year. It is not known to what extent Mount Vernon Creek contributed to <br />the Morrison flooding. <br /> <br />Flood of 7-8 July 1933. 'Five persons known dead ... property damage of unestimated <br />degree and nearly all the highway between Mt. Morrison and Idledale ruined, is the toll <br />up to date of one of the most devastating floods last Friday aftemoon (July 7) ever to visit <br />the Bear Creek watershed.... A cloudburst at about 1 o'clock in the neighbor of Idledale <br />sent a wall of water down Saw Mill Gulch leading to Bear Creek, and another raging <br />torrent down Vernon Creek ....The Vemon Creek waters reached a height of 15 feet... in <br />the narrow passage between the business houses. ... The highway up beautiful Bear <br />Creek Canyon between Mt. Morrison and Idledale is practically ruined," The above <br />account was taken from the Jefferson County Republican and quoted in the United States <br />Geological Survey Water Supply Paper No. 997 entitled "Floods in Colorado.' The peak <br /> <br />ColoraM Flood <br />Hydrology Manual <br /> <br />4.19 <br /> <br />fRlJFT <br />