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<br />-, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />-!'~ <br /> <br />... <br /> <br />Gazette.com Top stories <br /> <br />Page I of2 <br /> <br />~_ "_,,,011,,+. ,:l:-'k,,-, <br />~." -".-~ <br />g~m <br /> <br />top stories <br /> <br />Deluge sets rain record <br /> <br />Storm spreads misery with flooding, lightning <br /> <br />By Ardy FriedberglThe Gazette <br /> <br />Massive thunderstorms Thursday dumped record rainfall for the date on EI Paso County, causing <br />widespread street flooding, washing out the county fair and stranding a group of teen-age hikers on a <br />mountain trail. <br /> <br />With the ground saturated from several days of rain and more heavy rain predicted for this afternoon, <br />the danger of flooding continues, and county officials warned that low spots can quickly flood in <br />these conditions. <br /> <br />The previous rainfall record for July 30 was 1.02 inches in 1957, the National Weather Service said. <br />Thursday's total, recorded at Colorado Springs Airport, was 1,66 inches, <br /> <br />At the height of Thursday's storm, a lightning strike started a fire that destroyed a home in Security, <br />creeks overflowed around the county, basements in many areas were flooded, and a bridge near the <br />town ofRamah was reported near collapse. <br /> <br />Security Fire Chief Tim Huffman characterized the stormy day as one of the busiest in all his years <br />with the department. At 4:50 p.m" his crews were dispatched amid a driving rain to fight the house <br />fire at 5335 Alturas Drive, <br /> <br />"This is the most rain I've seen in my 17 years here," Huffman said, <br /> <br />After putting out the blaze, firefighters returned to their station to find it flooded, But they had no <br />time to deal with it since they were deluged by calls about flooded basements and people stranded in <br />floating cars. In less than three hours, the department received 16 calls. On a typical summer day, it <br />receives two calls, Huffman said, <br /> <br />No one was reported seriously hurt in the storm, but a stranded hiker was airlifted from a trail in <br />Queens Canyon with a sprained ankle. . <br /> <br />The remaining 35 teen hikers in the group were met by members of the EI Paso County Search and <br />Rescue unit who were leading them down two miles of trail to safety late Thursday, said Arnie <br />Lavelett, commander of the county's Emergency Services Division. <br /> <br />"They were at some risk up there because the trail is narrow and it was raining pretty hard," Lavelett <br />said. <br /> <br />Rainfall amounts varied widely around the county, with the Security-Widefield area getting as much <br />as 3 inches of rain, <br /> <br />By midafternoon, 3 to 4 inches of rain had fallen in the Calhan area turning the county fair grounds <br />into a quagmire and forcing officials to shut down for the day. <br /> <br />http://www.gazette.com/daily/topl.html <br /> <br />7/31/98 <br />