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<br />Preface <br /> <br />About 90% of the most catastrophic disasters which occur <br />in the United States involve flooding. Colorado's exper ience <br />closely parallels this national statistic. Admi.ttedly incomplete <br />records reveal that since the turn of the c,entury several hundred <br />Coloradans have been killed by floods, and property val ued in <br />excess of $1.6 bill ion has been destroyed or damaged. <br /> <br />Flood prone areas have been identified in every county in <br />the State. More than 5% of the p::>pulation and tens of thousands <br />of residential, commercial and industrial structures valued in <br />excess of $6 billion are in these areas. Several counties per <br />year will experience flooding because of acts of nclture or fail- <br />ure of man-made structures. Since 1965 eight flood events have <br />been sufficiently catastrophic in scale to result in presidential <br />major disaster declarations. The Lawn Lake Dam failure flood is <br />the second man-caused event to result in a presidential decla- <br />ration during the same period. <br /> <br />Clearly the threat of flood-related disasters justifies <br />major preparedness, response and recovery planning efforts on the <br />part of the State and local jurisdictions. Public safety respon- <br />sibilities demand this. However, the most cost-effective <br />approach to emergency management is mitilgati.on---in this case <br />efforts to reduce the occurrence of floods or the exposure of <br />people and property should they occur, To that end th is Flood <br />Hazard Mitigation Plan for Colorado has been prepared. <br /> <br />The Plan identifies opportunities and plans of action which <br />can lead to avoidance of flood disaster costs. A management <br />system to ensure continued high visibility of these proposals is <br />included. Cooperative effort by the executive and legislative <br />branches of the State government, local jurisdictions, and <br />Federal agencies will be required to guide the development of <br />this public policy initiative and to provide the resources to <br />implement it. The payoff in terms of increased security for <br />Coloradans and lowered economic costs of flood disasters will be <br />high. <br /> <br /> <br />ohn rne <br />Stat C dinating Officer, Lawn Lake Disaster <br />and Director, Division of Disaster Emergency Services <br /> <br />i <br />