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<br />characterized by a high peak flow and short duration. Due to the <br />storm's small areal extent and other factors, cloudburst runoff <br />would not significantly affect flooding along streams as large as <br />the Colorado and the Roaring Fork Rivers. Flooding from general <br />rain does not constitute a significant problem in Garfield County. <br />The 100- and SOO-year floods would result from cloudburst storms <br />on the small washes, tributary gulches, and tributary creeksl from <br />snowmelt on the Colorado Riverl and from snowmelt that could be <br />augmented by rain on the Roaring Fork River. <br /> <br />Garfield County is known to have a long history of snowmelt and <br />summer cloudburst floods, but limited definitive data on specific <br />floods are available because flooding largely occurred on farmland <br />and was seldom reported. Records indicate that twelve snowmelt <br />floods and fifteen cloudburst floods occurred in Garfield County <br />since the turn of the century. Two snowmelt floods were recorded <br />during the last two decades of the 19th century. <br /> <br />A snowmelt flood that occurred on the Colorado River in 1884 is <br />generally considered the most severe known, with a 300-year recur- <br />rence interval. A flood that occurred in 1971 is judged the most <br />severe of record on the Roaring Fork River, with a 80- to 90-year <br />recurrence interval. On both streams, runoff was augmented by <br />general rain during the flood period. The most severe cloudburst <br />flood in the county occurred in the Rifle area in August 1930. <br /> <br />More recently, in June of 1983, snowmelt waters ran over river <br />banks throughout the county and washed out bridges and roads causing <br />$300,000 worth of damage. The flows for this flood were less than <br />the 10-year flows used for this study. <br /> <br />2.4 Flood Protection Measures <br /> <br />There are no flood-control projects that afford protection to the <br />study area. <br /> <br />Rifle Gap Dam is located approximately S miles upstream of Rifle <br />along Rifle Creek. The dam and reservoir are operated to supply <br />irrigation water and provide no flood-control protection. <br /> <br />The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation diverts water from the Roaring Fork <br />River basin to the Arkansas River basin upstream from Garfield <br />County, but diversions are usually curtailed during periods of <br />high runoff. Irrigation use also serves to reduce main stem flows, <br />but not in significant amounts. Thus, reduction of peak flow along <br />the Colorado and Roaring Fork Rivers in Garfield County is uncertain <br />and unlikely under existing conditions. <br /> <br />The flood control and related water resources development problems <br />of the Upper Colorado River Basin have been under study by the COE <br />for a number of years. No projects, however, are presently proposed <br />to protect areas of Garfield County. <br /> <br />7 <br />