Colorado § 24-65.1-103 - Definitions pertaining to natural hazards.

§ 24-65.1-103. Definitions pertaining to natural hazards.

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Aspect" means the cardinal direction the land surface faces, characterized by north-facing slopes generally having heavier vegetation cover.

(2) "Avalanche" means a mass of snow or ice and other material which may become incorporated therein as such mass moves rapidly down a mountain slope.

(3) "Corrosive soil" means soil which contains soluble salts which may produce serious detrimental effects in concrete, metal, or other substances that are in contact with such soil.

(4) "Debris-fan floodplain" means a floodplain which is located at the mouth of a mountain valley tributary stream as such stream enters the valley floor.

(5) "Dry wash channel and dry wash floodplain" means a small watershed with a very high percentage of runoff after torrential rainfall.

(6) "Expansive soil and rock" means soil and rock which contains clay and which expands to a significant degree upon wetting and shrinks upon drying.

(7) "Floodplain" means an area adjacent to a stream, which area is subject to flooding as the result of the occurrence of an intermediate regional flood and which area thus is so adverse to past, current, or foreseeable construction or land use as to constitute a significant hazard to public health and safety or to property. The term includes but is not limited to:

(a) Mainstream floodplains;

(b) Debris-fan floodplains; and

(c) Dry wash channels and dry wash floodplains.

(8) "Geologic hazard" means a geologic phenomenon which is so adverse to past, current, or foreseeable construction or land use as to constitute a significant hazard to public health and safety or to property. The term includes but is not limited to:

(a) Avalanches, landslides, rock falls, mudflows, and unstable or potentially unstable slopes;

(b) Seismic effects;

(c) Radioactivity; and

(d) Ground subsidence.

(9) "Geologic hazard area" means an area which contains or is directly affected by a geologic hazard.

(10) "Ground subsidence" means a process characterized by the downward displacement of surface material caused by natural phenomena such as removal of underground fluids, natural consolidation, or dissolution of underground minerals or by man-made phenomena such as underground mining.

(11) "Mainstream floodplain" means an area adjacent to a perennial stream, which area is subject to periodic flooding.

(12) "Mudflow" means the downward movement of mud in a mountain watershed because of peculiar characteristics of extremely high sediment yield and occasional high runoff.

(13) "Natural hazard" means a geologic hazard, a wildfire hazard, or a flood.

(14) "Natural hazard area" means an area containing or directly affected by a natural hazard.

(15) "Radioactivity" means a condition related to various types of radiation emitted by natural radioactive minerals that occur in natural deposits of rock, soil, and water.

(16) "Seismic effects" means direct and indirect effects caused by an earthquake or an underground nuclear detonation.

(17) "Siltation" means a process which results in an excessive rate of removal of soil and rock materials from one location and rapid deposit thereof in adjacent areas.

(18) "Slope" means the gradient of the ground surface which is definable by degree or percent.

(19) "Unstable or potentially unstable slope" means an area susceptible to a landslide, a mudflow, a rock fall, or accelerated creep of slope-forming materials.

(20) "Wildfire behavior" means the predictable action of a wildfire under given conditions of slope, aspect, and weather.

(21) "Wildfire hazard" means a wildfire phenomenon which is so adverse to past, current, or foreseeable construction or land use as to constitute a significant hazard to public health and safety or to property. The term includes but is not limited to:

(a) Slope and aspect;

(b) Wildfire behavior characteristics; and

(c) Existing vegetation types.

(22) "Wildfire hazard area" means an area containing or directly affected by a wildfire hazard.

Source: L. 74: Entire article added, p. 336, § 1, effective May 17.