FLOOD07844

• County: Montezuma
• Community: Dolores
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Title: FIS - Dolores
• Date: 9/29/1989
• Prepared For: Montezuma County
• Prepared By: FEMA
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Historic FEMA Regulatory Floodplain Information

2.0 AREA STUDIED

2.1 Scope of Study

This Flood Insurance Study covers the incorporated areas of the
Town of Dolores, Montezuma County, Colorado. The areas of study
are shown on the Vic ini ty Map (Figure 1). '

The areas studied by detailed methods
the extent and validity of available
hydraulic data.

were selected based upon
existing hydrologic and

The areas studied by detailed methods include: the Dolores River
from a point approximately 900 feet downstream of the 4th Street
Bridge upstream to a point approximately 100 feet downstream of
Twenty-First Street extended; a study reach of approximately 1.33
miles.

2.2 Community Description

The Town of Dolores is located near the central area of Montezuma
County in southwestern Colorado, approximately 39 miles south of
San Juan County, Utah, and 40 miles west of La Plata County,
Colorado. The drainage through the southern area of Dolores is
the Dolores River, a tributary to the Colorado River. The
Dolores River also has a tributary, the West Dolores River, which
confluences about 15 miles upstream of Dolores, while the Dolores
River confluences with the Colorado River in eastern Utah,
approximately 100 miles northwest of the Town of Dolores.

Low brush dominates the lower elevations around Dolores, while
higher drainage areas contain timber, including pine, fir, and
spruce. Terrain in the Lost Canyon Creek area is interspersed
with timber of pine and fir above 9,000 feet, with sagebrush and
pinion pines flourishing in the lower tributary drainage area.

The normal annual precipitation in the area is approximately 16
inches (Reference 2). From July to October, nearly 40 percent of
the normal annual precipitation occurs as snow. Winters are long
and cold with mean daily temperatures around 300F from November
to March, while summers are short and hot with mean daily maximum
temperatures greater than 900F (Reference 3).

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the population within
corporate limits of the Town of Dolores decreased from 820 in
1970 to 802 in 1980 (Reference 4).

2.3 Principal Flood Problems

The nature of flooding problems affecting the Town of Dolores
include: general frontal type rainstorms, convective type
cloudbursts, and snowmelt. In this region, much of the annual

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