Historic Flooding Episode Across eastern Colorado

The extreme rainfall of September 11-15 across eastern Colorado was focused on the northern Front Range, where catastrophic damage and several fatalities occurred.

The areal coverage of the heavy rainfall and damage here in southern Colorado was mostly confined to the Pikes Peak Region. Rainfall amounts were heaviest from northern Fort Carson to the southwest side of Colorado Springs, where totals in excess of one foot were recorded. One rain gage on the north side of Fort Carson recorded over 12 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. If this rain gage proves to be reliable by the State Climatologist, this would be a new record 24-hour rainfall for Colorado. More on this in the coming weeks.

There was considerable damage on the southwest side of Colorado Springs from the runoff in North and South Cheyenne watersheds and the Rock Creek watershed flowin onto Fort Carson. Numerous trails and roads were flooded and damaged. Here is a photo of Gold Camp Road, on US Forest Service land in North Cheyenne Canyon. Repairs will likely take weeks or months...

photo by Colorado Springs Parks

South and North Cheyenne Creeks meet to form Cheyenne Creek which flows into southwest Colorado Springs.

photo of North Cheyenne Creek flooding over the canyon road by Lindsey Watts, KRDO-TV

Major flooding occurred on Cheyenne Creek in southwest Colorado Springs, damaging scores of houses and destroying one.

Tragically, two people lost their lives during the episode in Colorado Springs. One man drowned in Fountain Creek early Thursday morning, and another man drowned in Sand Creek on Sunday.

This website was recently put together by the Colorado Climater Center at CSU-Ft. Collins. While much of it focuses on northern Colorado flooding, there is some information on the rest of Colorado, and the site will be updated when time permits.