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<br />June 20 - Fort Collins and the surrounding areas experienced severe thunderstorms one
<br />of which approached the 50-year recurrence interval. In less than 2 hours, rain ranging
<br />from 1,5 to 2,6 inches fell. The heaviest rains were in western and southern Fort Collins,
<br />And the storms did cause damage,
<br />
<br />City crews pumped water out of basements in about 30 homes, One irrigation ditch
<br />overtopped its banks into adjacent subdivisions at two separate locations, One subdivision
<br />owner sustained several thousand dollars in damage to a recently completed landscaping
<br />project.
<br />
<br />Also on June 20, the moisture-laden system visiting the Front Range caused flooding in
<br />Clear Creek County, in and around Lawson and Downieville, Of importance here was
<br />a rain-produced flood event which occurred above 7,500 feet in elevation, An unofficial
<br />measurement of 3 inches of rain in I hour was recorded, The estimated 100-year 6 hour
<br />rainfall shown in the NOAA Atlas for the Lawson area where the storm was centered is
<br />about 2,2 to 2.4 inches, Because the storm was localized, streams in the area, particularly
<br />Clear Creek, did not flood, The problems experienced were local drainage problems, The
<br />frontage road along 1-70 had significant overland flooding and debris deposition, In
<br />Lawson, the ditches on either side of the frontage road filled up and plugged, That sent
<br />water down toward Downieville, the next community to the east. A house in Downieville
<br />experienced basement flooding, A house in Lawson had water depths 6 inches on the side
<br />of the house, just barely below the bottoms of the basement windows, Lucky!! It took
<br />the Colorado Department of Transportation 4 men and 2 pieces of heavy equipment nearly
<br />2 weeks to clear and rehabilitate the ditches in the area,
<br />
<br />Heavy rain, hail hit foothills., plains
<br />
<br />Snow closes highway
<br />on way to Mount Evans
<br />
<br />By Jim Kirksey
<br />DenverP(lSfSlaffWritElr
<br />Heavy weather hit the Front Range
<br />foothills and the plains of eastern Colora-
<br />do causing rock and mud slides, hail and
<br />copious amounts of rainfall in some loca-
<br />tions.
<br />And, to top it off, Colorado 5 above Echo
<br />Lake to the top of Mount Evans was closed
<br />because of snow.
<br />Yesterday afternoon, heavy rainfall
<br />caused flooding in the areas west of Fort
<br />Collins and Loveland, with Colorado 14
<br />closed near Ted's Place, northwl'tSt of Fort
<br />Collins, because of high water, according
<br />to the National Weather Service.
<br />"Some of the rainfall amounts from the
<br />storms have been very heavy in the moun-
<br />tains just to the west of Denver where
<br />some high water and mudslid~s have
<br />caused problems," the weather_ service
<br />later reported.
<br />
<br />The Clear Creek County Sheriff's De-
<br />partment said there was <I foot of water
<br />over the roads in the Lawson area near
<br />Interstate 70, and some rock slides near
<br />Fall River Road.
<br />Among the heaviest rain noted yester-
<br />day was more than 3 inches in northern
<br />Elbert County; 3.52 inches about 3 miles
<br />west of Loveland; 2.59 inches 2.5 miles
<br />west of Colorado State University in Fort
<br />Collins; 2.5 jnches at Horsetooth Reservoir
<br />in Larimer County; 2 inches of rain and
<br />high water on Interstate 25 in Douglas
<br />County; 1. 75 inches in an hour and 25 min-
<br />utes 6 miles northeast of Boulder.
<br />Besides Ted's Place and Lawson, street
<br />flooding was reported west of Loveland
<br />and in Fort CollJns. Hail progressively got
<br />
<br />6
<br />
<br />larger west of Fort Collins, from one-half
<br />jnell, to three-fourths inch, to 1 Inch in di-
<br />ameter.
<br />Hail up to three-fourths inch in diame-
<br />ter also was reported near Woodrow in
<br />Washington County. There was a rock
<br />slid,~ near Laporte in Larimer County
<br />Funnel clouds were reported at Boe-
<br />decker Lake in Larimer County and near
<br />La Salle and Hudson in Weld County.
<br />Residents of the Denver area experi-
<br />enced some relative minor rain storms.
<br />T')day, Denverites can expect partly
<br />cloudy skies this morning, with increasing
<br />cloudiness in the afternoon and a 50 per-
<br />cent chance of thunderstorms, according
<br />to weather service forecasters.
<br />H:ighs should be in the low-ta-mid 80s.
<br />Much the same is forecast for the metro-
<br />poli1an area for tomorrow.
<br />TJ1C Associated Press contributed to this
<br />report.
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