FLOOD09590

• County: Arapahoe
• Community: Aurora
• Stream Name: Cherry Creek Lake
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Hydrologic Improvement Assessment Cherry Creek Lake
• Date: 9/1/1993
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Project

FLOOD DAMAGE S1UDIES

FLOOD PLAIN D~VELOPHENT

The area susceptible to damages in the event of the probable maximum flood

(PMF) over Cherry Creek Basin includes portions of Adams County, Arapahoe County,

and Denver city and county. This flood plain is densely populated with both

commercial/industrial and residential structures. The downtown portion of

Denver, especially the Denver central business district, is a major Concern in

this study as it is in the center of the flood plain.

Because of the density of the flood plain, and level of detail of this

study, a structure by structure inventory of the area was not conducted. The

flood plain from Cherry Creek Dam to the north edge of the Denver urbanized area

was briefly surveyed to assess the activity types that lie within. Parcels were

designated so that similar activity types could be grouped together. Aerial

photos were used to count the number pf structures per parcel, Replacement

values were assigned to each parcel,

There are approximately 21,000 strvctures that would be damaged if the PMF

occurred and the dam failed. Approximately 18,000 of these structures are

residential and approximately 3,100 are commercial/industrial structures. The

values of these structures are displayed in table 9.

Table 9
Flood Plain Development

Approximate
No. of
Structures

Approximate
Structural
Value

Approximate
Content
Value

Total'
Value

Commercial
Residential
TOTAL

3,100
18,000 1/
21,100

$3,936,000,000
$1,182,000,000
$5,118,000,000

$2,086,000,000
$ 637.000,000
$2,723,000,000

$6,022,000,000
$1,819,000,000
$7,841,000,000

1/ TOTAL HOUSING UNITS in the flood plain equal approximately 53,000.

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