FLOOD08394

• County: Pueblo
• Community: Pueblo
• Stream Name: Fountain Creek
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Fountain Dam and Reservoir Design Memorandum Number 1: Hydrology, Part 1
• Date: 2/9/1978
• Prepared For: Pueblo
• Prepared By: MSM Consultants, Inc.
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Project

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11.28 inches measured during the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m.
on the 19th. This station recorded the greatest amount of
precipitation during the storm. Major flooding occurred in the
Arkansas River watershed from Pueblo to John Martin Reservoir
and in the entire reach of the Purgatoire River from Valdez to
the mouth. The flood on the Purgatoire River produced a peak
discharge of 28,000 c.f.s. at Trinidad and was the largest of
record in some of the lower reaches. The Arkansas River at
Pueblo peaked at 11,100 c.f.s. and produced very little flood-
ing. As the flood progressed downstream, the peak increased to
50,000 c.f.s. at La Junta and caused major flood damage in
North La Junta, a residential section across the river from La
Junta. At Las Animas the peak measured 44,000 c.f.s., but due
to a very successful flood fight, no serious flooding occurred.
The peak inflow to John Martin Reservoir was 88,000 c.f.s. and
the flood volume at the reservoir was 260,000 acre-feet. Very
little inflow was produced by the upper tributaries. The peak
on Fountain Creek at the mouth, just below Pueblo, was 4,950
c.f.s., and on the St. Charles River at the mouth, the peak was
20,600 c.i.s'. Peak discharges for Huerfano River at Undercl1ffe
and Apishapa River near Fowler were 11,300 c.f.s. and 17,000
c.f.s. On Timpas Creek near Rocky Ford the peak was 7,500
c.f.s. The peak flow of the Purgatoire River near Las Animas
was 70,000 c.f.s.

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26. FLOOD OF 1965. During the period June 13-19, 1965,
heavy precipitation occurred over most of the ArkansAs River
subbasin east of 105015' longitude in Colorado. Heavy rains
occurred over Fountain' Creek and contiguoua areas and south bank
tributaries to the Arkansas River in Colorado east of Rocky
Ford. In southeastern Colorado, there was an l8-inch storm
center over southern Prowers County and a l6-inch center over
eastern Prowers County. Several subcenters extended southwest
to the area near Raton, New Mexico. A large area of less
than 2 inches of rainfall separated the southeastern centers
from a storm center near Colorado Springs. The storm produced
major flooding in the Arkansas River waterahed from the head-
water tributaries of Fountain and Chico Creeks to central
Kansas. Flooding on Fountain Creek began immediately downstream
from Colorado Springs and extended to the confluence with the
Arkansas River. Runoff from the contributing area of Jimmy Camp
Creek, a small tributary to Fountain Creek with a drainage area
of about 78 square miles, produced a peak of 124,000 c.f.s.
This was reduced to 47,000 c.f.s. on Fountain Creek at Pueblo.
Runoff from the contributing area of Chico Creek, the other
major contributor to flooding in the reach from Pueblo to Las
Animas, produced a peak of 52,200 c.f.s., which combined with
flows from Fountain Creek and smaller contributing areas to
produce a peak of 50,000 c.f.s. in the Arkansas River at

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