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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />safe from some type of damaging flood event'" (Browning. 2002). There have been 267 <br />communities in all of Colorado's 63 counties that have been identified in flood prone area~ <br />(CWCB 2(02). <br /> <br />A flood event can cause catastrophic damage if preparation and pre-disaster mitigation is not <br />made. The goal of pre-disaster mitigation is to reduce the loss of life, human suffering. economic <br />disruption. and disaster cost to the Federal taxpayer. In other words. to reduce the vulnerability <br />of the community before the next disaster threatens (FEMA. 2002). The economic expense from <br />property damage and post-disaster clean up. as well as the loss of life. can be significantly <br />reduced by implementing floodplain management. <br /> <br />One of the most effective methods of flood hazard reduction is to delineate a floodplain map of a <br />community. At minimum. a lOO-year floodplain should be determined for all communities. The <br />lOO-year floodplain is used since it ha.. a 1% probably of occurring in any given year and has <br />significance for floodplain management and insurance purposes. It is the 100-year flood plain <br />that is the minimum standard for regulatory floodplain information as determined by the Federal <br />Emergency Management Agency (FEMA. 2002). <br /> <br />In Colorado. it has been estimated thaI 250.000 people are living in 100-year floodplains. and <br />65J)(x) homes and 15.000 commercial. industrial. and business structures are located in <br />floodplains totaling $16.5 billion dollars worth of property. The Colorado Water Conservation <br />Soard (CWCS) ha... delineated 8.000 miles of floodplains and it is estimated that there are many <br />marc structures located in unmapped floodplains (CWCS. 2(02). There are al..o certain <br />floodplain maps that contain approximate floodplain delineations that were not based on <br />sufficient engineering information (CWCS. 20(2). In cases where communities do not have <br />adequate floodplain mapping. revisions to outdated maps or entirely new maps are needed. <br /> <br />Cedaredge is located in Delta County and was selected for this study by the cwes. Cedaredge <br />does not have an existing floodplain map. Figure I is a site map of the study areas. <br /> <br />8 <br />