Colorado faces a rising risk of flooding, mudslides and rockfalls — like those that closed Interstate 70 last year — due to the heavier impact of rain on drought-stricken areas.
burning more land, state climatologist Russ Schumacher said. Some 36 burn scars from fires cover more than 700 square miles.
Major floods scouring Colorado’s semi-arid landscapes — triggered by heavy rain and hail — historically ranked among the worst disasters. The biggest floods hit Pueblo in 1921, Denver in 1965 and the northern Front Range in 1976. Most recently, floods in 2013 swept down from mountains and across plains along the South Platte River into Nebraska, destroying 1,800 structures and causing damages estimated by the insurance industry at $4 billion.
“But as you have less vegetation cover and soil — as it gets drier — you expect to see greater amounts of erosion,” said Karen Berry, director of the Colorado Geological survey. “And, we find that the types of rainfall we get have been changing due to climate change,” tending to be “more intense” when storms hit, Berry said.“But what if the flood plains migrate? There needs to be some sort of buffer area,” Berry said.
Colorado officials began revising flood risk maps after 2013 — when a year’s worth of rain fell in three days, setting off the floods. The latest maps of the Front Range show streams and rivers moved significantly, typically after extreme calamities, rendering Federal Emergency Management Agency maps inapplicable.Residents embrace near a washed-out home in Jamestown, Colo. on Sept. 14, 2013.
So far this year during extreme drought, only three alerts have been issued, NWS meteorologist Russell Danielson said. “The strongest storms don’t really start until June.”
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