LAKEWOOD — Six months after repairs were completed at Bear Creek Lake Park from the 2013 floods, the popular recreation area is again under water.
Heavy rain and snowmelt put the reservoir at 40 feet above normal as of Friday afternoon, causing much of the park to close. The reservoir, which is one of three designed to protect heavily populated areas downstream, peaked at 50 feet above normal after the September 2013 flood.
“We’re still rising,” Bill Jewell, Lakewood regional parks and golf manager, said Friday. “The restroom and parts of the shelter are underwater. We know the docks and piers have broken loose from their abutments, so we know there’s going to be some repair work.”
He added that creek restoration work done last year has held up.
“We have some minor erosion, but it should be minimal to repair when the water recedes,” he said.
All told, roughly $372,000 was spent repairing structures, trails and creek restoration following the 2013 flood.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project coordinator Joe Maxwell said the lake is doing exactly what it was designed to do — protecting populated areas downstream from serious flooding.
“Right now, we’re releasing our target max we can under normal circumstances, which is about 500 cubic feet of water per second,” Maxwell said.
The north side of the park is now closed, according to the Corps of Engineers. It could be another month before water levels return to normal.
Bear Creek Lake — along with Cherry Creek and Chatfield reserviors — are three Corps of Engineers dams that protect the Denver area from flooding.
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or
