FLOOD06979

• Designation Number: 373
• County: Clear Creek
• Community: Georgetown
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Flood Insurance Study - Georgetown, CO, Clear Creek County
• Date: 6/1/1989
• Designation Date: 9/1/1994
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

2.0 AREA STUDIED

2.1 Scope of Study

This Flood Insurance Study covers the incorporated
Town of Georgetown, Clear Creek County, Colorado.
study is shown on the Vicinity Map (Figure 1).

area of the
The area of

The areas studied by detailed methods were selected based upon the
extent and validity of available existing hydrologic and hydraulic
data.

Clear Creek was studied from the downstream corporate
approximately 760 feet downstream of the 22nd Street
upstream to a point approximately 1,650 feet upstream
6th Street Bridge, a reach of approximately 1.8 miles.

limits,
Bridge,
of the

South Clear Creek was studied from a point approximately
downstream of the Rose Street Bridge upstream to
approximately 1,400 feet upstream of the Main Street
reach of approximately 0.8 mile.

255 feet

a point
Bridge, a

2.2 Community Deacription

The Town of Georgetown is located in Clear Creek County, Colorado.
Georgetown is approximately 2 miles east of the Town of Silver
Plume, 3 miles south of the Town of Empire, 11 miles west of the
City of Idaho Springs, and 45 miles west of the City and County of
Denver, Colorado. Georgetown is approximately 2 square miles in
area.

Georgetown was established during the mid-1800s gold rush. By
1877, Georgetown's population reached its peak as it neared 5,000.
With the wane of the gold rush, silver became the major industry.
Around the turn of the century this industry also waned, and by
the 1930s the population had dwindled to a mere 200. Today, the
town is thriving with a population of 922 (based on distribution
of State Lottery funds for 1987) and a revenue based mainly on
tourism.

Clear Creek and South Clear Creek (also known locally as
Leavenworth Creek) both flow through Georgetown in narrow channels
with fairly steep slopes. The headwaters of Clear Creek are
located near the Continental Divide with the highest point in the
basin of Grays Peak at 14,270 feet National Geodetic Vertical
Datum (NGVD). Clear Creek at Georgetown Lake (at the downstream
end of Georgetown) has a water-surface elevation of approximately
8,445 feet NGVD. The creek flows easterly for most of its length
until it reaches Georgetown, where it flows northerly.

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