FLOOD07602

• County: Rio Grande
• Community: Monte Vista
• Stream Name: Rio Grande River
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Title: Floodplain Information Report
• Date: 6/1/1969
• Prepared For: Monte Vista
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Contract/PO #: &&
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

SUFoMARY OF fLOOD SITUATION

The city of Monte Vist~, Rio Gr~nde County, Calar~da,

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of other dam"ging floods th~t h~ve occurred ha" baen loot in the
obscurity of time. Except forths urban floodplain snCrOaCM1<lnt
existing 8djecent to the r"ilro~d. development has bogun only re-
cently in the flood plain areao considorod in the report. As a
result, dorinltive rBcords or past rloods are meager For this reBch
of the Rio Granda's rlood plain.

is locatad in ~hc nia Grande ~at6rohed (~ee Plate 1). The Ria

Grande flo~o ooutha~sterly along tho northern edge af tho citt.
This ra~ort covers B ~ortion of the Rio Grande floo~ pl~in that i8
'"ithin the pl~nnlng jurisdiction of the city of Monte Vista. The
study area BnComp~sses Milss 72.10 to 8~.02 as shown on Pl~te 4.
Tho principal rasidential development of Monte Vista
lies adjaoent to and south of the Denver and Rio Grande Weatern
Railroad, which is apprOXimately parellel to and one mile distant
from the main river ch~nnal. The principal industri~l end com~er_
cial developments ~re situated both adjacent to end In the flood
pl~ln erea north of the reilroad. Portion. of these lends have
been inundated by floods of the past, and oven largor areas ,"ould
be inundated by the potontially groater rloods of the future.
A etream gaging station has baenlnainteinlld on the
Rio Grando nllar the Gunbarrel Road bridge since May 1926. most
of theatrtlamflow records from this gaging statlan Can beO<lnsid_
orod reliable eX~opt during thg wint~r months when icing conditions
OausO poor roadin90.
Hist"l'ic~l documents and nswsp"par Fils" h"ve b~on
searched for information concsrning pest floods. The local flood
oih,ation on the Rio Grond~ hoe been devolopod from thooe invesM
tigatians and studies of possible Future floods. The follo~ing
paragrapho summari~e significant findingo ~hioh oro discuoscd in
moro detail in succooding sections of tho report.

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INTERMEDIATE REGIONAL fLOODS aro floods that have an averags fre-
quency of occurrence in tha ord~[ of on~e in 100 yeers. They ere
detormined from en~lyses of past floods that have accurred on the
Rio Grando ~nd Qther etroams in the gon"'ral ar~a.

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STANDARD PROJECT FLOODS ara flood~ whiCh ,"ould be exceaded only on
~~rs occasions and are reasonably ~haraotoristi~ of the goograph_
icsl sraa in which tho dreinage basin is located. In many instances.
thsy may define the upper limit of flooding egain~t which protec_
tion ~ay bo ~ought. Ths Standard Projoct flood would ~ver~ge less
thon 1 foot higher tha" th~ Int":rrnedi~te Regional FlOOd along mo~t
of the kio Gr3nn~.

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FLODODAMAGES r09ulting rrom oither the Intermediate Regional flo od
or tho Standard Projoct rloQd ~ould be ~ore oxtensive than from
Pdst flaodg because of incre~sad development in the flood plain,
~nd the wIder extent, graater depthe, and higher velocities or
floodweters.

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mAIN FLOOD SEASON for the Rio Grande subbesin ~bovs Monte Vista
ia during ths l~te spring ~nd summer months. Lute spring snow
storms in the hiyher 818v~tion~ ~nd hiqh int~nsity rains ov~r
tho plnln" reglon In ~onjun~tion ~ith the phYGi~al faeture~ of
th~ w~tersh~d C~n produce con~~ntr~tlon~ of runoff th~t char~c_
t~riz~ nood~ of high p~~k nOW" arld ~xto,ndad durdtions.

.HISTORICAL FLOODS occurring in tho gonor31 Monto Viot~ ragion htlve
h~Rn rRportAC ~ith r8~son~ble ~ccur~cy since the mid_1910';. MantA
Vi;t~ floods which primarily involved the Ria Gr~rlda ware recorded
1n18114, 1905, 1911. In7.19413. ..nd 1949. Relhbleinform"Uurl

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