FLOOD07952

• County: Fremont
• Community: Canon City
• Stream Name: Four-mile Creek, Mud Gulch
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Floodplain Management Study - Four-Mile Creek and Mud Gulch at Canon City
• Date: 10/1/2002
• Prepared For: Canon City, Fremont County
• Prepared By: USDA Soil Conservation Service
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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HISTORY OF FLOODING

There have been numerous floods in the past 100 years, the impact of which

has increased in recent years due to continued development in the flood plains.

Information from local residents, newspaper, and the Weather Bureau shows that

flash flooding has occurred in 1906, 1921, 1929, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1954,

1956, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, and 1991. Based on a damage assessment

done in 1977 by Joe Alessi of N.R.C.S., the 1974 flood caused more than $250,000 in

damage to the east of Canon City.

Flooding along Four-Mile Creek and Mud Gulch occurs as a result of local

storms on the watersheds above the city. An example oflocal flooding is the flood of

August 12, 1991. This particular event was not an extreme flood, but it did cause

some street and railroad damage, as well as private property damage, including

extensive water damage in basements and the destruction or washing away of a fe\\.

fences. Water up to four feet deep was reported along Central Avenue. Many

homeowners spent time cleaning mud from their yards and dri\'e\vays.

Precipitation records are incomplete; however, there are data for the period

from 1940 to 1984 for the Canon City location. The greatest, one-day recorded

rainfall occurred in 1955 - 2.74 inches. There were ten occurrences of t\\.o or more

inches of rainfall during the period of record.

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