Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

This report summarizes key factors associated with each flood event, such as: storm location and characteristics, rainfall data, hydrologic and hydraulic investigations, descriptions of flooded areas and flood damages, flood damage estimates, and flood mitigation efforts. Additional documentation for these events, including contact information, photographs, and hydrologic/hydraulic computations, is provided in each chapter.

On Saturday, July 31, 1976 almost 4,000 people were enjoying the serene beauty of the Big Thompson Canyon. During the evening an intense thunderstorm stalled over a small portion of the canyon, dropping 10 or more inches of rain in a 3-hour period. Because of the steep mountain topography, the rainfall quickly concentrated and formed a virtual "wall of water" which displaced everything in its path. The Big Thompson flood has provided a grim reminder...

This document provides a summary of the outcomes of the Flood DSS (Decision Support System) prototype project, as implemented by Riverside Technology, inc., and provides recommendations for a full scale Flood DSS implementation. Project tasks are summarized to document activities that may need to be repeated in a full-scale implementation.