Pre-Disaster Planning Resources
The pre-disaster planning process can be used to characterize and educate stakeholders on future flood risk, create partnerships and relationships amongst stakeholders for future disaster recovery activities, and establish a contact list of key stakeholders to be involved in recovery. Local governments can reduce damage by integrating avoidance and mitigation principles into plans, codes, and standards related to land use and the built environment.
Fluvial Hazard Zone (FHZ)Mapping
In order to recognize and assess the hazards associated with erosion, sediment deposition and other dynamic river processes, the Colorado Water Conservation Board has developed a program to identify and map fluvial hazards to help communities better understand all hazards associated with flood events. The State of Colorado’s Fluvial Hazard Zone (FHZ) mapping program represents a significant and necessary step forward in stream corridor management, flood and wildfire mitigation and preparedness and conservation practices.
Colorado Hazard Mapping Program (CHAMP)
The Colorado Hazard Mapping Program (CHAMP) is updating regulatory floodplain maps throughout the state with new hydrologic and topographic information as well as converting paper maps to digital maps.
Debris Flow Mapping
This resource contains maps of the debris flows from the 2013 Colorado floods. These types of flows are classified as earth flows and debris/mud flows, which are considered geologic hazards. This study addresses only these types of hazards. Hydrologic flooding within main stream channels and their floodplains were not included in this study.
Probable Maximum Precipitation Study
The Colorado-New Mexico Regional Extreme Precipitation Study (CO-NM REPS) is a multi-year effort to update extreme precipitation information for the Dam Safety offices of Colorado and New Mexico. This hydrometeorological information allows for engineers to conduct detailed flood analyses and develop hydrologic hazard curves for complex projects that warrant very detailed flood analyses related to the potential consequences downstream if a dam were to fail.
Planning for Hazards
This guide provides detailed, Colorado-specific information about how to assess a community’s risk of hazards and how to implement several land use planning tools and strategies for reducing a community’s risk.