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Relentless rainfall in Colorado's eastern "Front Range" has caused several mudslides and flooded a number of towns, destroying hundreds of homes and leading to three fatalities, local officials said Thursday.
Four straight days of steady rain, with more predicted over the weekend, triggered an emergency declaration Thursday from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who requested help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The National Weather Service (NWS) showed a 100-mile-wide (185-km-wide)band of rain clouds stretching south from Wyoming 300 miles (555 kms) into Colorado, and warned of "extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations" throughout the region, with flooding concentrated in areas northwest of Denver.
NWS said eight inches (20.5 mm) of rain was dumped in northern Colorado over a 12-hour period, and another six inches (15.4 mm) is predicted for the weekend.In Boulder County, widespread flooding hit a number of small towns, including Jamestown, Lyons and Longmont.
One person was killed when a structure collapsed in the tiny town of Jamestown northwest of Boulder. Another person drowned in northern Boulder, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) reported.
Lyons, a small, isolated town of 2,000 at the base of the Rocky Mountains, was cut off by what city officials described as "a 500-year flood." Officials posted warnings on Facebook urging residents to prepare for a possible three days of isolation.
Boulder, home of the University of Colorado (CU) with 32,558 students, was a scene of chaos as Boulder Creek breached its banks and poured water into the streets, sweeping away cars, paralyzing traffic, and stranding students. The state's largest university canceled classes for the rest of the week.
The university's website reported that 400 students in a dorm were evacuated and revealed about a quarter of the school's buildings had been damaged by water.
In rocky canyons west of the city, rising waters caused mud and rockslides, forcing evacuations, and trapping residents in their homes in remote areas of the Rocky Mountain foothills, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's office.
"We've been terrified," said local resident Beverly Cole, who lives 15 miles (28 kms) west of Boulder on a mountain above Boulder Canyon. "It rained all night and we're completely trapped. We're not going anywhere."
The NWS reported that a 20-foot (6-meter) "wall of water" crashed down a mountain canyon north of the city, injuring and trapping a firefighter in a tree. The firefighter survived, making his way to a nearby home, according to Boulder Sheriff Commander Heidi Prentup.
In Aurora, the eastern Denver suburb of 330,000, flooding across city streets left residents and vehicles stranded, as swollen streams and reservoirs overflowed.
Another flash flood-related fatality occurred 185 kilometers to the south, where Colorado Springs police found a body in Fountain Creek on the west side of the city, not far from the record Waldo Canyon fire that burned 347 homes in 2012.
Forest Service officials say flash flooding is worse in areas where wildfires leave land parched and unable to absorb rain.
