From CBSDenver.com (Alan Gionet):
“The evidence that is left for us we’re going to try to make the best sense out of it and try to come up with some answers,” said Russell Stroud, lead hydrographer in the area for the Colorado Division of Water Resources.
Stroud was joined by U.S. Geological Survey workers as they tried to compute the amount of water that poured down the Big Thompson Canyon. Those workers are now furloughed and the numbers have been delayed. But people in the area have guessed the water’s flow at 15,000 cubic feet per second.
They will compute the maximum flow — how high the water got.
“Agencies like (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will use that to delineate their flood maps and insurance will use FEMA’s flood maps to determine insurance rates and zoning and so forth,” said Jeff Kitchen, a USGS hydrologist…
The heaviest rains were in Larimer County, Boulder County and Aurora. In some areas of the Eastern Plains there was little rain, just downstream flooding. Boulder County had the most.
“If you just simply average those numbers, we came up with 8.9 inches in seven days across the county,” said the National Weather Service’s Bob Glancy.