What is Colorado Hazard Mapping?
The Takeaways
Communicating safety risks to the public is key to protecting lives.
Being transparent and providing a comment period for the public on draft floodplain maps improves the accurate representation of pre-and post-flood conditions.
Long-term recovery requires government transparency.
The Case Study
Colorado experienced its costliest disaster in September 2013. The floods and accompanying debris flows, avulsions, and landslides caused more than $4 billion in damages to homes, businesses, roads, highways, and watersheds; 1,852 homes were destroyed and over 28,000 dwellings were impacted; close to 500 miles of state and federal highways were closed, and tragically 10 lives were lost. This disaster highlighted the need to reexamine Colorado’s vulnerability to hazards, particularly through the floodplain, erosion zone, and debris flow mapping, in order to better understand and reduce risk from future hazard events.
Recognizing the critical need to update hazard mapping and help inform local and state efforts to reduce such losses in the future, the State set out to reexamine various flood risks throughout the communities Recognizing the critical need to update hazard mapping and help inform local and state efforts to reduce such losses in future events, the State set out to reexamine various flood risks throughout the communities that were impacted by the 2013 floods. In 2015, Governor Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 15-245 into law. This bill created a 3-year natural hazard mapping program to be completed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS). The work that the CWCB and CGS are doing represents the most comprehensive update to state floodplain maps since the creation of the National Flood Insurance Program and will greatly improve the information that Colorado communities need to rebuild and grow in a safe and resilient manner.
Updated floodplain, erosion hazard, and debris flow areas will allow local communities to make better-informed decisions to protect lives, identify where to locate future development to minimize damage in future disaster events, and enhance water quality and river functionality. Specifically, a Flood Risk Review process allows for early engagement with local communities to review draft flood plain maps with a comment period. This effort is closely coordinated with FEMA to ensure a more accurate and timelier final map product, otherwise known as the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). Coordinating this information can allow local governments to choose to adopt what is considered the best available information from FEMA.
Want more information?
Check out the Colorado RiskMAP tool from the CO Water Conservation Board.
Read Senate Bill 15-245.