> > The house were we live now is at about 975 feet above sea level, and well out of reach of the Tennessee river that wanders through the county at about 847 feet or so. We are also on a ridge between Town Creek and Muddy Creek. No flood danger there.
>
> It can flood at any elevation if there's enough water, but it's a bit of a shock to see 3-figure elevations. The lowest I have ever lived is about 1300 feet--which is practically sea level as far as I'm concerned--and for the last 13 years I've lived about 6100 feet.
>
> > Now if I could just figure out what to do about tornadoes.
>
>
> We have hail, lightning, and occasional tornadoes around Colorado Springs, but I would rather have all those than flooding, which we also occasionally have.
>
> Dan (Our motto in Colorado: "Don't trust anyone under 14,000 feet") iel

Elevation from sea level doesn't have much to do the floods. The main thing is how high you are relative to nearby streams. It would take a bibical flood to bring the Tennessee river up here. Even the waning days of the ice age, when modern rivers like the Mississippi, the Hudson, and the Columbia became "super rivers," did not cause the Tennessee to reach this high.

I remember camping somewhere between Colorado Springs and Denver about 35 years ago. As it was getting dark I realized we were set up in a dry stream bed, so I went by the campground office and asked if there was any danger of flooding. They said no, but in the morning, I realized that we were just downstream from an old earthen dam!

I dodged that bullet, but the next day I blew an engine at Rabbit Ears Pass.
Howard