Manitou Springs ‘well-protected and well-served’ by flood mitigation efforts, officials say after storm
By
Ellie MulderJuly 29, 2018 | updated 8 years ago
Madison Guessford, 5, plays in the hail outside of the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette). Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette
Days after heavy rain and hail pummeled the Pikes Peak region, Manitou Springs officials are touting the efficacy of flood-control projects installed in the wake of the devastating 2013 and 2015 floods.
More than $18 million has been spent in an effort to lessen the impact of the next disaster. The recovery and mitigation efforts were tested last Monday — and they worked, said Shelley Cobau, the city’s public services director.
Damage to city property from Monday’s storm will cost at least $1.5 million — about 15 percent of the city’s general fund budget — prompting Mayor Ken Jaray to declare a local disaster emergency. But the damage could have been far worse, officials say.
“If those debris nets weren’t in place (in Williams Canyon) and we ended up with all that woody debris and sediment, it would have been a similar event to 2013,” Cobau said Friday. “We didn’t get a lot of woody debris and muck down in the center of the city.
“Yeah, we had damage, but the overflow from that facility went across Soda Springs Park, which was what was designed to occur — so that the damage would be on municipal property from the overflow and not on private property.
“I would say it’s been very successful. I think the city’s been well-protected and well-served by the facilities that have been constructed in such a short time.”
By Thursday afternoon, crews had cleared 1,600 cubic yards of sediment and woody debris — about 100 large dump truck loads — from across the city, Cobau said. It’s unclear how much of that was taken from debris nets or other flood-control structures.
The debris are sitting on a lot near the Public Services Department building, creating a hilly landscape near where employees park their cars. The debris collected in the aftermath of the 2013 floods almost had been cleared off the property before last week’s storm hit, Cobau said.
The department’s 31 staff members worked 16-hour days all week to clean up what she called “a little bit of mud in a lot of places.”
The city’s three flood-control gates installed near Cañon and Park avenues, however, were problematic.
One failed entirely. A car reportedly was parked on another, preventing it from opening. The third partially popped up.
“We have some work to do on those gates,” Cobau said. “They’re not well signed. We need to get it striped so people know not to park on them. … We’ll get on that very quickly.”
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Nearly $800,000 was allocated to build flood walls and passive flood gates, according to data provided by Cobau. Engineers are working to fix the gates, she said. They also will alter the gates to allow them to be more easily triggered, even during smaller storm events.
Crews also have removed debris from the Waldo Canyon burn scar and re-vegetated the area, leaving less debris to wash through the city during a flood.
“It’s not just built facilities — it’s mitigating the upper watershed,” Cobau said. “All those efforts culminate so we can have a 500-year event go through Manitou Springs and we don’t have loss of life. We didn’t have interruption of business, road closures, catastrophic bridge failures, things like that.”
Some of the mitigation projects are still underway, Cobau said. But Williams Canyon phases I & II, which cost $6 million and include a flood-control channel, are complete.
The projects’ $18 million price tag is covered in part by about $16.1 million in grant funding and city insurance money, said Crystal Abeyta, the city’s grant administrator. The city has contributed $1.8 million, or a little more than 10 percent of the cost.
“The before and after is what everyone sees, but to get them here to there takes a lot of our team (doing) a lot of administrative work,” Abeyta said.
In February, the Manitou Springs City Council declined to pursue a fourth phase of Williams Canyon flood control projects, rejecting $1 million in federal funding, the Pikes Peak Bulletin reported. And some residents have expressed concerns about the flood mitigation projects.
Too much silt collects in the flood channel that comes out of Williams Canyon, a critical stretch of recharge for the mineral springs aquifer, which “chokes off the possibility of recharge water reaching the aquifer,” said Dave Wolverton, a Manitou Springs resident and board member of the Mineral Springs Foundation.
“The concern is the city doesn’t really have any protocols to clean those sections, and they don’t have any way to monitor the effectiveness of that recharge section,” said Wolverton, who was not speaking for the organization.
Utility worker Dino Rodriguez measures 16 feet to the bottom of a sinkhole that formed the day before on Old Pueblo Road south of Fountain amid flooding in July . Vehicles fell into the culvert, and when the Hanover Fire Department responded, its firetruck fell in.
A pasture turned into a pond at a property on Old Pueblo Road south of Fountain after Monday’s deluge.Fountain received more than 3 inches of rain and hail. Here, a goat eats leaves that were blown from trees and caught in the fence on Tuesday. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Goats dine on leaves that were blown from trees Tuesday at a pond that had been a pasture before a deluge of rain Monday hit the property on Old Pueblo Road south of Fountain. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
A portion of Old Pueblo Rd. south of Fountain, was washed out during Monday’s storm. A vehicle fell into the culvert and when the Hanover Fire Dept. responded to the cave-in, their fire truck fell into the hole on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Both vehicles were removed early Tuesday morning. Two firefighters were injured and one person was airlifted from the scene. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Jesse Randall with First Response Restoration packs up toys ruined in a flooded basement in a Fountain home on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Fountain got over 3 inches of rain in Monday’s big storm. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Kelly Randall with First Response Restoration carries out bags of mud that were taken from the floor in a flooded basement in a Fountain, Colorado home on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Fountain got over 3 inches of rain in Monday’s big storm. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Jeff Halls with First Response Restoration carries out bags of mud that were taken from the floor in a flooded basement in a Fountain, Colorado home on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Fountain got over 3 inches of rain in Monday’s big storm. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
John Vigil of Fountain, Colorado, puts a new tarp on his roof on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. Vigil has had to use a tarp on his roof since it was damaged in the big hail storm in June. He’s been waiting for his insurance and the roofers to come to an agreement on the price. The tarp that he had prior on his roof was tarn apart in Monday’s hail and rain storm. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Project manager Lynn Johnson rides an ATV with a snowplow to help clear the hail pileup by the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette).
Clifton May uses a pressure washer to clear the deck of D’Vine Wine Manitou Springs on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette).
Madison Guessford, 5, plays in the hail outside of the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette).
Project manager Lynn Johnson rides an ATV with a snowplow to help clear the hail pileup by the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette).
Rob Allen, of the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, sprays off the various ridable attractions on Tuesday July 24, 2018 in Manitou Springs. (Photo by Dougal Brownlie, The Gazette).
Day looked like night as rain and hail pounded Manitou Ave. in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Tornado and flash flood warnings were sent out before and during the storm on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Canon Ave. in Manitou Springs was closed by street flooding after a hail and rain storm hit Manitou Springs on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
A mudslide on Hwy. 24 caused backups for miles on Ute Pass. Cars are backed up near Manitou Springs on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
As usual on a Summer afternoon, the town of Manitou Springs was teeming with tourists on Monday. Many were caught by surprise by a sudden storm that turned day into night. Tornado warnings, flash flood sirens, and deep hail had many tourists scrambling to find a dry place along Manitou Ave. on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Jay Bennett throws a “hail ball” at his friend Chris Bru after a hail storm hit Manitou Springs on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Firuz Labib walks down Canon Ave. after it was closed due to flooding in Manitou Springs on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Day looked like night as tornado and flash flood warnings were sent out before and during the storm on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Day looked like night as rain and hail pounded Manitou Ave. in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Tornado and flash flood warnings were sent out before and during the storm on Monday, July 23, 2018. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
