State officials on flood watch
Heavy snowpacks, warm spring forecast prompt warnings
By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Originally published 12:48 p.m., March 17, 2008
Updated 06:04 a.m., March 18, 2008
Ken Papaleo / The Rocky
A skier walks by huge pile of snow at Loveland Basin on Monday. Heavy snowpacks have state officials concerned about possible spring flooding.
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Supersized snowpacks and forecasts for a warm spring have large parts of the state on flood watch.
State snowpacks, at 126 percent of average, are their highest in a decade, with regions such as the Arkansas River Basin seeing the deepest snows in more than 40 years, the Natural Resources Conservation Service said.
Last week, the Garfield County Sheriff's Office warned residents to prepare for a possible surge in stream runoff. Snowpack in the Colorado River Basin, home to Garfield County, is 127 percent of average.
The state also started asking residents to prepare for what could be an active flood season, advising homeowners to check flood insurance and to buy coverage if none was in place.
"It appears we have a very challenging year ahead of us," said Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. His comments came at a meeting of the state's flood task force Monday morning.
Statewide, snowpacks in all mountain watersheds are above average, a rarity in Colorado.
Though snowpacks along the northern Front Range are just slightly above average, the Arkansas River Basin, whose waters serve Pueblo and Colorado Springs, are at 156 percent of average.
Southwestern parts of the state also are seeing critically high snowpacks. In the Rio Grande Basin, for example, the snowpack is at 151 percent of average and emergency officials are monitoring stream flows and ordering sandbags.
"At 150 percent of average, as a general rule of thumb, that's where we begin to get concerned," said Mike Gillespie, snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Flood danger is likely to be highest beginning in late April and continuing through June as mountain snows melt, officials said.
"It's impossible to predict precisely, but I think we're about 45 to 75 days away from peak runoff," said Kevin Houck, an engineer for the Colorado Water Conservation Board's flood protection unit.
Colorado's mountain snows, even in deep years, often melt in an orderly fashion.
But if high runoffs combine with intense spring rainstorms, flooding is likely, officials said.
Rafters and kayakers should be particularly careful this spring, said Robert Jarrett, a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.
"We don't know how the runoff is going to come off," he said. "But what we do know is that there are going to be many months of high flow and the waters are going to be freezing cold. Anyone who gets in who can't get out quickly is going to be in trouble. That's what the public needs to know."
Colorado flood facts
* More than 280,000 Coloradans live in floodplains.
* 65,000 homes are within floodplains.
* 16,450 flood insurance policies were in force in September 2006.
* Flood-prone areas have been identified in 267 cities and all 64 counties.
* Colorado averages $54 million (in 2006 dollars) in flood damages annually, based on historical data.
* The 16 worst floods since 1900 have killed 331 people.
* U.S. presidents have issued nine flood disaster declarations in Colorado from 1965-2006.
Spring and early summer floods
* May 19-20, 1864: Heavy rain over Cherry Creek caused 19 deaths along Cherry Creek and the South Platte River in Denver.
* June 3-5, 1921: Cloudbursts between Canon City and Pueblo caused floods that killed 78 people and caused $20 million in damage.
* June 29, 1927: Snowmelt and rain flooded the Rio Grande River, destroying five bridges and killing three people.
* May 30, 1935: Cloudbursts along Monument Creek in Colorado Springs killed four.
* May 30-31, 1935: Heavy rain in the Republican River Basin in eastern Colorado caused six deaths.
* May 9, 1957: Heavy rain at Toll Gate Creek Basin killed three in Aurora.
* June 14-18, 1965: Storms in eastern Colorado caused flooding and a dam failure in Powers County. About 20 died.
* May 1973: One died and $120 million in property was lost when rains and melting snowpack flooded the South Platte.
Comments
Posted by Shaupeen on March 17, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does this mean we can finally have a campfire this summer??!!??
Posted by SufferingFromFools on March 17, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No - what they didn't say is that we are still (and will always be) in a drought, no matter what. So no campfires for us again!
Posted by freethought on March 17, 2008 at 2:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
With a load of skiing related deaths this winter, I guess we can look forward to drownings. Colorado is the place where most visitors come to die.
Posted by jkl on March 17, 2008 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey freethought: Do you ever have anything positive to add?
Posted by Shaupeen on March 17, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wait a minute, freethought might be on to something. Maybe we should change our state motto (again) to reflect this. How about:
Colorado - where Texans come to die.
or
Colorado - too tough for the rest of the country
Posted by theQ on March 17, 2008 at 4:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
YEA.....blame it all on that global warming.
Posted by forwhatitis on March 17, 2008 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Shaupeen, LMAO!!!! Sorry, no campfires ever again in the state of Colorado. Too many idiots that don't know what they are doing and too many beetle killed trees standing around. On second thought, a good coat of fire might make some of the forests look pretty good again and spark some new natural growth... But the forest service firefighters will likely take care of that.
Posted by Froward69 on March 17, 2008 at 4:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
forwhatitis, I like your idea... the beetle will be eradicated the natural way. the forest will reproduce like it had before humans interfered.
so goes those second mountain homes...
Posted by Scott on March 17, 2008 at 4:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"so goes those second mountain homes..." only for those idiots that do not listen to their fire department. That is, clear the trees and brush from around your house, don't stack firewood next to your house, etc..
Scott
Posted by windbourne on March 17, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well forwhatitis/ForwardXX, it really no longer matters. For all intents and purposes, the trees that will be infected are pretty much done. The time to have worried about this was about 4-6 years ago, not now. The smart thing is to allow some controlled burns run through the snow this spring. It will keep it under control. Then once an area is clear, go ahead and re-seed, or just allow nature to take place. Of course, if we do it, we would be smart to diversify.
Posted by GWM on March 17, 2008 at 7:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Can we finally fill up the reservoirs before Chicken Little says we are going to be too warm next winter?
Posted by rellimpank on March 17, 2008 at 10:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
----California can always use the water--
Posted by VVVV on March 18, 2008 at 6:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I pee on California.
BTW, anyone willing to tell us where we can find the information about who lives in a flood-prone area? I'm sure they'd like it better if we all buy flood insurance, but some of us don't like to waste money on ominous speculations about the future. Then again, others of us really do.
Posted by CWW on March 18, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I suppose if we're going to have a warm spring we'll have to hear about global warming ad nauseum all summer. That is, if the weather people are correct---they've been pretty wrong all winter.
Also, how much water do we need for CO not to be in a drought????
Posted by carlindenver on March 18, 2008 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Re:Top Spring and early summer floods. Did Denver and the metro area and I-25 corridor experience a SMALL flooding in June 1965?? Floodplain. When did we in the front range begin using and recognizing that term? Why was Chatfield Dam constructed? Yes,editors thanks for your oversight.
Posted by Navy on March 18, 2008 at 4:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
June 1965 - cloudburst over Plum Creek near Castle Rock, Plum Creek flashes to the Platte, Platte takes out every bridge through Denver, horses died at Centennial Race Track, people died. Roads across the Platte were closed for a week. Some small flood!
Posted by Nimrod on March 18, 2008 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Many Americans are still unaware that flood damage is not covered by their homeowners insurance policy. Others are in denial about the serious flood risks to which they are exposed. Though definitive figures on the potential market for flood insurance are difficult to obtain, consider the following statistics:
• Floods are the nation's #1 natural disaster.
• 20 to 25 percent of all paid claims are from low to moderate risk areas, yet a large percentage of residents in these areas do not have flood insurance.
• In high-risk areas, conservative estimates show that only one-third to one-half of residents have flood insurance.
For a number of flood disasters in the past few years, only 10 to 20 percent of the victims in high-risk areas had flood insurance coverage. The remaining 80 to 90 percent had to rely on taxpayer-funded Federal disaster assistance, low-interest loans, tax write-offs, or savings to help them recover.
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