S O U N D   O F F

Chuck Sylvester

Having been born and raised on the banks of the South Platte River, I grew up dealing with floods. As a child in the 1940’s, I remember my parents moved my sisters and I to Grandpa Sylvester's home, because they were concerned about rising flood waters.

Over the past 76 years of my life on this farm, I’ve learned to take floods in stride. Knowing what the potential high water mark could be, and understanding the river quite well, I couldn't see any reason why the river would ever exceed that.
This changed in 1973. When living in Wyoming, I heard Paul Harvey say – “The largest crest of flood water came down the South Platte at 27,000 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS).” This was April 6, 1973. Floods of 1965, 1969, 1976, 1980, 1996 and 1997 were all normal floods, in that they never exceeded the historic high water mark until 1973.

It's now figured the flood of Friday the 13th of September, 2013 was more than double 1973's CFS and possibly triple the historic high water mark.

"Floods can be caused by an increase in precipitation or by a change in land surface characteristics." Dr.David Legates
What has changed on the Front Range? Here are some possibilities:

a) Shut down of Senior wells on the upper end (fully adjudicated by about 1879) of the Platte overhydrated the entire upper end. A recent update of the HB 1278 Study, Dr. Regan Waskom reported the Front Range along the South Platte River basin has been over augmented (hydrated). Our observations reveal that this over hydration has risen the historic approximate 20 feet below surface to flooding basements, crops and municipal water treatment plants.
b) Rapid growth on the Front Range; more roofs, parking lots, streets and more, has created less area for water to quickly soak into the soil.
c) 500,000 acre feet of water brought to the Front Range from Trans-Mountain diversions. With this additional water for agriculture/crops, a majority of this same water is now being used by cities for domestic household, trees, lawns, golf courses and other shrubs, which are nice to look at, but all have a cooling effect on the temperatures thereby putting more evaporated moisture into the air and increasing the humidity.
Everyone knows water begets water. This recent rainfall and flood shows us how man-made over hydration has dramatically changed the picture of rainfall and landscape of the South Platte basin. With this there is more evaporation accumulation. Recently, a scientist reported that Boulder had water vapor that at times was "150 to 200 percent more than normal." Upslope winds are common along the Front Range, and this abundance of new moist air is too heavy to make the leap over the Continental Divide. Trapped along the Eastern side of the Continental Divide, is has nowhere to go but down!

So when conditions like a cold front are just right, a collision ensues and we get horrendous rains such as:

1) June 16, 1965 Palmer Lake Divide – floods Plumb Creek and floods out Denver. Subsequently the Bijou dumps 75 to 80,000 CFS west of Ft. Morgan sending 100,000 CFS through Fort Morgan.
2) August 1, 1976 – Big Thompson Flood does millions in property damage, most tragically drowns over 140 people. In trying to warn the residents, two peace officers lost their lives.
3) A 12 “rain fall West of Ft. Collins created the 1997 Flash Flood that killed 5 people and did over $200 million in damage, including the Library at C.S.U.
4) Friday, September 13, 2013 – what has been tagged as a 1,000 year flood, resulted from heavy rains from the mountains near Netherland to the hills west and north of Ft. Collins, dumping 12 to 18 inches – and – with Denver and Aurora getting 11” and 13.5 inches respectively?

Could it be that this combination of factors is what resulted in millions in property damage and the tragic loss of life (Eight humans lost their lives in this Epic Water Event!)?

So I pose the following question: What percentage could this recent epic rain(s) and flood(s) be attributed to an Act of God, and what percentage can be attributed to actions by man?

Attorneys need not respond.

Charles W. Sylvester
4th Generation – Sylvester Farm, LaSalle, CO
Retired General Manager National Western Livestock Show and Rodeo