Fountain Creek floods as embankment fails

A disused railroad structure built in the 1920s gives way to the creek swollen by northern rains.

By JEFF TUCKER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
May 8, 2007
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1178685795/1

Heavy rains and a shift in currents overwhelmed an abandoned railroad embankment on the Fountain Creek early Monday morning, sending 6 to 8 feet of muddy water flooding into low-lying areas along Dillon Drive, north of the Pueblo Mall.

By 3 p.m. Monday, city public works crews were hoping for 12 hours of dry weather to haul several tons of rock to plug the break in the embankment, which may have served as a levee on the Fountain Creek for more than 80 years.

Repairing the breach was complicated by difficulties stabilizing a makeshift road to get equipment to the site.

The waters came over the levee east of the Wal-Mart Supercenter and less than a mile north of Colorado 47. It flooded into a vacant parcel of land south of the store and made its way across 40th Street, where it nearly submerged a home.

From there, the flood crossed Dillon Drive and traveled through the Trollsville neighborhood, forcing the evacuation of eight homes and two businesses and sending water high up the side of some of the buildings, before stopping at Pueblo Mall Boulevard, an access road to the mall's parking lot.

There were no injuries involving the flooding reported. Neither the Eagleridge Shopping Center nor the Pueblo Mall were threatened by water.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES

A truck sits in floodwater from the Fountain Creek on Monday.

While the water approached the existing tracks that run along the interstate behind the Sleep Inn, Union Pacific Spokesman James Barnes said the railroad wasn't planning on closing the lines.

Reports say the embankment may have failed around 8 a.m.

The first 911 call was recorded at about 8:50 a.m. and fire department and police personnel were on the scene minutes later.

By 2 p.m., nearly all of the city's public works fleet was there as well as equipment from Pueblo County and private contractors who volunteered to help.

Dennis Maroney, stormwater utility director, said the embankment has been in place since the 1920s, but its age was never really a concern for the city.

Maroney said the cause of the flood was a sudden shift in the direction of the river.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/MIKE SWEENEY

Water from Fountain Creek spills into low-lying areas near Colorado 47 and Dillon Drive on Monday.

"The Fountain Creek just moved," he said. "It wasn't something we anticipated."

Property owner Bill Dickey was the first to try cutting a new breach farther south along the levee to relieve the flooding on his property.

City crews arrived later and by 1 p.m. were trying to install a drainage ditch at the new break to let the water on the east side of Dillon drain back into the Fountain.

The muddy banks of the creek were unstable enough that once the ditch was cut, the water did most of the work on its own.

At its highest point Monday afternoon, the Fountain was flexing 5- to 6-foot rapids north of Colorado 47 and the water draining from the flooded areas was coming out with such force that it was carving chunks from an island in the middle of the creek.

Maroney said his department was somewhat concerned about additional sediment farther downstream and the loss of vegetation, but the new breach was the only alternative at that point.

The other problem is that the water is still flowing in the wrong channel.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/MIKE SWEENEY

Floodwaters spill over Dillon Drive on Monday after a railroad embankment along the Fountain Creek broke.

Public Works Director Dan Centa said his crews were trying to fix that by dumping massive stones and other rocks into the breach in the hope of sealing it and directing the water back to its original channel.

With more rain expected in Colorado Springs Monday night, Centa said he was hoping it wouldn't fall until later Monday or early this morning.

"We have 12 hours to get the flow of water stopped in the area where the first breach occurred," Centa said. "If the rain can hold off until then, we feel pretty comfortable it will hold. If we do get a surge we could have flooding in here again."

Maroney said he couldn't be sure how quickly the water would subside.

"It depends on how long it takes for us to close the water on the north end of the system," he said.

Dillon Drive was reopened by 3:20 p.m., Monday, relieving a snarl of traffic in the area caused by shoppers, curious bystanders, media and public officials.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES

Muddy water flows over Dillon Drive just north of Colorado 47 after an embankment broke on Fountain Creek early Monday morning.

While Maroney said the flood was caused by an unexpected shift in currents, the Colorado Progressive Coalition's Margaret Mora still places the responsibility for the flood on the city's shoulders.

"How long do these communities have to suffer before the city starts taking flooding issues seriously?" she said.

Mora has consistently put pressure on the city to address water quality and flood control issues on the creek and is working with residents of the Peppersauce Bottoms neighborhood, who may sue the city for a flood last summer that caused significant damage to their homes north of the Midtown Shopping Center.

Initial reports on Monday said the Fountain overwhelmed a levee in the area built by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Matt Bourgeois, emergency management chief at the Corps' regional office in Albuquerque, N.M., said the levee was an abandoned railroad embankment left behind when tracks were moved.

The Corps does have jurisdiction over portions of the Fountain because it placed structures in the creek after the devastating flood of 1965.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/MIKE SWEENEY

The confluence of the Fountain Creek (bottom) and the Arkansas River.

It also is involved in a major watershed study on the Fountain which began a couple of years ago in hopes of resolving recurrent flooding and erosion on the creek.

But people who live in the area of the break north of Pueblo Mall said the embankment had been there for many years, perhaps going back to the 1920s.

Bourgeois said when the Corps builds a levee it turns it over to the local government in the area to "own, operate and maintain."

He said the Corps hadn't received any calls for assistance from the city government, but added that wouldn't be the normal course of action.

"Normally, they would go first to the state government and then if our help was needed the request would come from the governor," he said.

The city did receive help from every other local agency.

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/JOHN JAQUES

Rollin Harshbarger stands on his truck hood as creek water floods his business, R&T Paint and Body.

The City-County Health Department was on the scene and sent out samples of the floodwater. Animal services was also on scene.

- Chieftain reporter Margie Wood contributed to his story