Guide to the Northern Colorado Flood Oral History Collection

Title: Northern Colorado Flood Oral History Collection

Dates: 2013-2015

Quantity: 1.75 linear feet (1 document box, 2 flat boxes) + 4.15 GB

Identification: WNCF

Abstract: For six days in September 2013, historic levels of rain fell over much of the Northern Colorado Front Range causing massive flooding and landslides that killed eight people and caused over $2 billion in damage to homes, businesses, farms, and irrigation structures. This collection contains oral history interviews, reports, PowerPoint presentations, newspapers, and a video documenting the 2013 floods and their aftermath. Most of the oral history interviewees were officials and professionals with direct responsibility for flood management and recovery.

Contact Information: Water Resources Archive
Archives and Special Collections
Morgan Library
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1019 USA
Phone: 970-491-1844
Fax: 970-491-1195
Email: library_dl_specialcollections@mail.colostate.edu
URL: https://lib.colostate.edu/water

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Colorado State University Libraries online catalog. Researchers seeking materials about related subjects, persons, organizations, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

• Floods -- Colorado.
• Oral history -- Colorado.
• Emergency management -- Colorado.

• Colorado Water Conservation Board.
• Colorado. Division of Water Resources.
• Colorado. Office of Emergency Management.
• United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• South Platte River Watershed (Colo. and Neb.)
• Front Range (Colo. and Wyo.)
• Larimer County (Colo.)
• Weld County (Colo.)
• Boulder County (Colo.)
• Morgan County (Colo.)
• Logan County (Colo.)
• El Paso County (Colo.)

• Oral history.

For six days in September 2013, historic levels of rain fell over much of the Northern Colorado Front Range causing massive flooding and landslides that damaged homes, businesses, farms, and irrigation structures. Recognizing the significance of the flood, researchers at the Public Lands History Center at Colorado State University (CSU) interviewed 35 officials and professionals with direct responsibility for flood management and recovery during the 2013 disaster, hoping that knowledge gleaned from their experiences might assist managers during future flood events.

The conditions for the 2013 flood developed in early September as monsoonal air from Mexico arrived in drought-parched and fire-ravaged Colorado. Rather than moving onto the Western Slope, as anticipated, the air mass moved east, and historic levels of high-elevation rain fell over a wide geographic area from Colorado Springs to Laramie, Wyoming. All of Northern Colorado's watersheds from the mountains east to Nebraska experienced flooding. Flooding and landslides killed eight people, temporarily or permanently displaced thousands of people, and caused over $2 billion in damage to private and public property.

The 2013 Northern Colorado Oral History Flood Project was a collaborative effort between the Water Resources Archive at CSU's Morgan Library and CSU's Public Lands History Center (PLHC), funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). The three entities recognized the value of capturing first-hand accounts of the 2013 flood. Based on the CWCB's interest, principal investigator Dr. Ruth Alexander and project coordinator Naomi Gerakios Mucci focused the project on people who managed emergency resources and directed recovery efforts rather than on flood victims; other oral history projects in Boulder County focused on victims. From June to August 2014, Gerakios Mucci and three research associates interviewed climate scientists, water and stormwater managers, municipal and county administrators, dam engineers, emergency managers, search and recovery personnel, disaster relief personnel, and park managers, many of whom were still dealing with the flood's aftermath. After recording and transcribing the interviews, Alexander and Gerakios Mucci wrote a report for the CWCB and gave several presentations to state water organizations. The interviews, reports, and associated materials were then transferred to the Water Resources Archive.

The Northern Colorado Flood Oral History Collection consists of materials dated 2013 to 2015. Thirty-one oral history interviews with professionals directly responsible for flood management and recovery conducted during the summer of 2014 comprise the bulk of the collection. Interviewees represent Boulder, Larimer, Morgan, and Weld counties. Interview materials include digital audio recordings, transcripts, photographs of informants, and interviewer notes. In addition, the oral history project produced a final report, PowerPoint presentations, newsletter articles, and a bibliography. The collection also contains local, state, and national newspaper clippings and a video of flooding in Estes Park, Colorado.

The collection consists of 3 series stored on a server and in 3 boxes:

• Series 1: Oral histories, 2013-2014
• Series 2: Project files, 2013-2015
• Series 3: Media, 2013

Northern Colorado Flood Oral History Collection, Water Resources Archive, Colorado State University.

The Northern Colorado Flood Oral History Collection came from several sources. In February 2015, the Public Lands History Center at Colorado State University delivered the bulk of this collection--digital files and documents related to 31 interviews conducted as part of the 2013 Colorado Flood Oral History Project. In September 2013, Archive staff saved newspapers that covered the floods, and in November 2013, Greg O'Malia, a video producer from CSU External Relations, sent Archive staff a video of flooding in Estes Park.

Processing was completed in July 2015. Electronic files were saved on the Library's digital server. Duplicate administrative and audio files as well as reference files collected from the Internet were weeded. Correspondence setting up interviews was also weeded. Archive staff created a bibliography from the project's Zotero library. Newspapers and interviewee permissions files were housed in acid-free folders and archival boxes. Spelling and formatting mistakes in interview transcriptions were corrected, and standardized formatting was applied to all transcripts.

Oral history interviews in the 2013 flood collection often reference the July 31, 1976, Big Thompson Canyon flood. Several collections in the Water Resources Archive contain slides, photographs, and documents concerning the 1976 flood, including the Papers of Maurice L. Albertson, the Papers of Everett V. Richardson, and the Records of Wright Water Engineers. Perhaps the most useful collection related to the 1976 flood is the David McComb Big Thompson Flood Collection.

Materials in Series 1, Series 2, and a video in Series 3 are available through the Colorado State University Libraries website. In the electronic version of this document, direct links appear in context.