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<br />LESSONS of RECOVERY' A REViEW of TItE 1997 COlORAdo Flood DisASTER <br /> <br />Colorado State University <br /> <br />In addition to the 5.3 inches of rainfall <br />recorded at the CSU weather station, the <br />campus was also inundated by heavy <br />runoff from neighborhoods to the west. The <br />campus flooding that resulted was one of the <br />worst natural disasters ever to hit a major <br />research university. Floodwaters crashed into <br />the basements of Lory Student Center, <br />Morgan Library, Hartshorn Medical Center, <br />Eddy Hall and the Education Building, causing <br />millions of dollars in damage. <br /> <br /> <br />Flooding on the CSU campus <br />(photo by John Weaver) <br /> <br />Another approximately 40 buildings on <br />campus were damaged in the flood and over <br />400,000 library volumes were damaged at <br />Morgan Library (10 percent of the total CSU library collection). An entire semester's inventory of textbooks <br />were destroyed at the student center and faculty members, staff and graduate students suffered some of the <br />most irreplaceable losses: years or even lifetimes of research work. The total recovery cost at CSU will exceed <br />$100 million, making the campus the most expensive consequence of the disaster in terms of property losses. <br /> <br /> <br />Unincorporated Larimer County <br /> <br />The heavy rains that flooded Spring Creek also <br />caused flooding (estimated at greater than <br />500-year levels) in the West Vine drainage <br />basin. Two homes were destroyed and more than <br />60 homes suffered significant basement and crawl <br />space damage and shallow first floor flooding <br />(Larimer County, 1998). The hardest hit areas in the <br />unincorporated area were the Rostek and Irish <br />Green Acres subdivisions and homes along parts of <br />Hollywood and Sunset Streets. Streets and utilities <br />Hollywood Drive and Cherry Lane in the area were also damaged by the flood, which <br />(unincorporated Larimer County) was the worst in the basin in the memories of long- <br />time residents. Although dollar estimates of <br />agricultural losses in the county are unavailable, <br />farmers and ranchers reported substantial losses to the hay crop, The flood also caused extensive damage to <br />recreational trails in the area, including trails at Lory State Park and Horsetooth Mountain Park in <br />unincorporated Larimer County and the Spring Creek and Foothills trail systems in Fort Collins. <br /> <br />Morgan County <br /> <br />Floodwaters from Schaefer Draw damaged structures, roads, bridges, utilities and agricultural lands <br />across a large area of Morgan County north of the South Platte River, although impacts were most <br />pronounced in the community of Weldona. The USDA Farm Service Agency estimates that 15,000 acres <br />of agricultural land were affected by the flood, with damages to corn, alfalfa, other crops and pasture lands. <br /> <br />COlORAdo OfficE of EMERliENCY MANAliEMENT <br /> <br />4 <br />