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City of Colorado Springs Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan Flood History of Colorado Springs The founders of Colorado Springs were edu- cated by their first flood five years after the incorporation of their young, fledgling, town. Listed are the most severe floods that have inundated Colorado Springs: The flood on June 16, 1864, was de. scribed in an article from The Colo. rado ~Drinl!'S Gazette as follows: - a heavy cloud came up over Cheyenne Mountain and the sky gathered dark- ness until nearly sundown, when rain and hail began to fall in tremendous torrents. ..The rain came down, not in drops but in floods, the hail consisted of huge ice, some of them over 3 inches in diameter; the whole surface of the country was flooded as though it were a vast lake and in some ravines the water TUshed along in torrents 20 to 30 feet deep... The area of the storm was confined within a radius of 3 or 4 miles. il Thirteen deaths were caused by the flood. The estimated peak discharge of Monument Creek for the 1864 flood was 40,000 cubic feet per second, well above the normal summer- time flow of 2500 cfs. r On July 26, 1885, homes and businesses along the Templeton Gap Basin, Monument, and Shooks Run Creeks suffered thousands of dol- lars in property damage, Bridges were de- stroyed over Cheyenne, Cottonwood, Squirrel, and Sand Creeks. Two people were reported killed during this flood. The July 33, 1921 issue of The Colo- rado ~prinl!'s Gazette described this flooding as follows: Shooks Run had before 9 PM (June 3) become a river. It had spread its waters over the north- western part of the city, covering sev- eral blocks... Sand Creek and Fountain Creek were roaring, (filling) the banks to overflowing, flooding gar- dens, farms, ranch houses. May 31, 1935, saw the most severe flooding on Fountain Creek from a storm concentrated in the Kettle and Fountain Creek basins. The Bijou Street bridge was the only bridge left crossing Monument and Fountain Creeks. The newspaper account stated: - ...flood waters from half dozen cloud burst swept through Monument Val. ley...shortly after noon...four lives were lost and property damage, exclusive of that suffered by the railroads, was es. timated by the city engineers as $1,215,000.00. Four people died in this flood. The water reached flood stage in less than an hour. It should be noted from the map depicting residential and commercial damage during the recent flood that the newer urban areas suffered many problems and are increasing flows on the existing creeks. Because it is an expanding city, Colorado Springs must deal with the risk of urban flooding. Flash flooding is extremely dangerous because of the inten- sity and the tremendous amounts of water and debris carried by it. The land is no longer able to absorb the rainfall, causing two to six 7