From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District met with FEMA officials and consultants Friday to review FEMA’s plans to release new flood plain maps for El Paso and Pueblo counties. Pueblo County maps are expected in September 2011 and El Paso County maps to follow in October 2011. “The purpose of today’s meeting is to begin to educate the board on the work the Technical Advisory Committee will be doing,” said Gary Barber, executive director of the district.
The work is significant to the district because the FEMA maps will define the area of primary authority the district has — the 100-year flood plain between Fountain and Pueblo. Perhaps more importantly, the maps will allow the district to develop policies and recommendations for future development along Fountain Creek, Barber said.
Colorado Springs is developing guidelines for development that the technical committee would like to apply throughout the watershed…
FEMA undertook its own study, after looking at old maps that estimated peak flows for a 1 percent annual chance, or the 100-year flood, at 93,000 cubic feet per second in El Paso County and 64,000 cfs right across the county line in Pueblo County, Jula said. There are often differences between counties, but FEMA and the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which oversees flood plain mapping in Colorado, wanted to bridge the unusually large gap on Fountain Creek, Jula said. The new study shows much lower numbers for a 100-year flood, roughly 39,000 cfs at both Fountain and at the confluence with the Arkansas River. “The gauges do not have consistent and concurrent data,” Jula said, pointing out that data sets from seven stream gauges were used. Not all of the gauges have functioned properly throughout the years. Particularly missing are two of the largest floods on Fountain Creek, in 1921 and 1935. The 1965 flood also is estimated, with a range of 47,000-60,000 cfs at Pinon. Under some estimates, at least on some points on Fountain Creek, the 1921 and 1935 floods were probably larger.