Impacts from rains like Wednesday’s downpour in El Paso County are lessened due to mitigation work that’s taken place. KRCC’s Tucker Hampson reports.
Mitigation efforts including early warning equipment, catchments basins and storm water culverts installed over the last two years are proving to be instrumental in preventing damage and reducing clean up needs. Carol Ekarius, Executive Director for the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, which is helping to coordinate efforts, says while storm water will continue to be an issue, flood prevention efforts are working, especially around Waldo Canyon.
"The rainfalls are intense," says Ekarius. "We saw intense rainfalls last year, but the mitigation--we’re so much further ahead than we were last year around the fire scar, there’s been so many more projects completed that we’ve mitigated the impacts considerably."
Ekarius says mitigation efforts are ongoing, and additional volunteers and funding are needed to continue stabilizing the burn scar. But overall, flood damage this year is much less than last year.
