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<br />. <br /> <br />Creek empties into the South Platte and extending downstream through <br /> <br /> <br />Denver and on below through the rural area along the South Platte. <br /> <br /> <br />About 100 miles downstream from Denver near Fort Morgan, Colorado, <br /> <br /> <br />major flooding was produced by heavy intense rainfall occurring <br /> <br /> <br />during the evening of 17 June over Bijou Creek of the South Platte <br /> <br /> <br />River basin and Fountain Creek of the Arkansas River basin. Near <br /> <br /> <br />the mouth of Bijou Creek, a peak discharge of 466,000 cubic feet <br /> <br /> <br />per second was estimated from a drainage area of 1,314 square <br /> <br />miles. Farther up the basin on East Bijou Creek, a peak dis- <br /> <br /> <br />charge of 274,000 cubic feet per second was estimated from a drainage <br /> <br /> <br />area of 302 square miles. On Fountain Creek in the Arkansas River <br /> <br /> <br />basin, a peak discharge of 124,000 cubic feet per second was <br /> <br /> <br />estimated from a drainage area of 54.3 square miles. Although <br /> <br /> <br />runoff from the rainfall on the 17th had no effect on flows at <br /> <br /> <br />Denver, it did produce flood conditions along the South Platte <br /> <br /> <br />that extended from Fort Morgan, Colorado, downstream to below <br /> <br /> <br />the Colorado-Nebraska State line. A considerable amount of post- <br /> <br /> <br />flood data was collected on both the storm that caused this <br /> <br /> <br />flood and the flood itself. Since the runoff on the tributaries <br /> <br /> <br />came so fast and was over so quickly, the peak discharge estimates <br /> <br /> <br />were mostly based on slope-area measurements. Flood hydro graphs <br /> <br />for this event on Cherry Creek and at selected stations on the <br /> <br /> <br />South Platte River are shown on plates 8 through 11. <br /> <br />FLOOD OF 6-11 MAY 1973 <br /> <br /> <br />Snowmelt runoff from the lower mountain area of the South <br /> <br /> <br />Platte River basin began about the middle of April. By the first <br /> <br /> <br />of May, flows had increased to about 500 cubic feet per second at <br /> <br /> <br />Waterton, Colorado; about 1,000 cubic feet per second in the <br /> <br /> <br />Denver area; and about 2,000 cubic feet per second in the reach <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />25 <br />