Parts of Chatfield State Park (Jefferson & Douglas Counties) closed - Flooding

[Joey Kellner]

I just received this from one of the Park Rangers:

"The water level went up over the evening and continues to rise. The main
park Road is closed between Fox Run and the Platte River parking area."

Just wanted to let birders know. If you want to bird on the Douglas County
side of the Platte River, you MUST enter through the East (or Plum Creek)
entrance to the Park. Take Santa Fe to Titan Road and go west to Roxburough
Road. Turn north on Roxburough Road and drive into the park.

Joey Kellner
Littleton, Colorado

[Deborah Carstensen]

I was at South platte park this morning. Just 3 to 4 days ago, the river was running at 27,000 CFS. Today, the river was running at 11,000 CFS and was visibly much lower than it had been for the last month.

It makes me wonder if they have decreased the amount of water being released from Chatfield to the river. For the last month, the river was flowing very high even if there hadn't been raining for a couple of days. If they have decrease the amount of water being released, I'm suspicious of their motives, knowing that ultimately they would like to flood the Chatfield Park area.
Deb Carstensen, Littleton, Arapahoe County

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[Will Burt]

Streamflow correction:
The flow of the South Platte River below Chatfield was 1090cfs at noon today (yes, it has decreased from about 2750cfs on June 10th), and the streamflow at Waterton was 3520cfs.  So the Corps is stripping about 1500cfs off the river (plus the Plum Creek and Deer Creek inflows).  My quick analysis is that in the last 24 hours, the reservoir level has risen by almost 2 feet, and the surface area covered by water has increased by about 60 acres.  BTW, at its current storage level of 47,400 acre-feet, it is still a long ways from its maximum flood pool of about 350,000 acre-feet!  That's about 25,000cfs for 7 days.

Streamflow references:
http://www.dwr.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/data/detail_graph.aspx?ID=PLAWATCO&MTYPE=DISCHRG
http://www.dwr.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/data/detail_graph.aspx?ID=PLACHACO&MTYPE=DISCHRG