DENVER-
A spring storm pummeled the Front Range with up to 4 inches of hail and heavy rain on Tuesday, trapping drivers in flooded intersections and stinging pedestrians with cold, hard hailstones.
Two tornadoes were reported in Elbert County in the plains southeast of Denver, but sheriff’s officials received no immediate reports of damage.
Lightning strikes damaged at least two homes in Fort Collins, Poudre Fire Authority said. One home caught fire, suffering about $35,000 in losses. The other had a hole in the roof and an estimated $2,000 in damage.
Grape-sized hail clattered down on part of Denver at midday, blanketing many downtown streets, parking lots and Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies went on to play the St. Louis Cardinals as scheduled.
The hail piled up 4 inches deep at Elitch Gardens amusement park, a spokeswoman said. Drivers were caught in up to 3 feet of water in some intersections, but no serious injuries were reported, Denver Fire Department spokesman Phil Champagne said.
“It hurt. I probably got bruises. It was huge,” said Brazil Redd, 21, of Edgewater, who got caught in the hail. “I got soaked.”
She was outside when the rain and hail began, having her car towed away after a hit-and-run collision.
Marty Thrall plodded through a half inch of hail in a short-sleeved T-shirt, shorts and sandals.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this icy,” he said.
Drivers scurried to get under bridges or into garages. Insurers braced for damage claims, but dollar value may not be down for a couple of days.
“We’re in a wait-and-see mode until we can get claims in and have adjusters look at damage,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
“Certainly, we are in hail alley. We get more severe hail here than almost anywhere else on Earth. It’s not unusual,” she said.
Denver firefighters were inundated with calls about trapped drivers, manhole covers lifted by torrents of water rushing into storm drains and fire alarms accidentally triggered by the storm, he said.
“We’ve been really taxed to the max when it came to our resources, because it was such a fast-acting, wide-range storm,” Champagne said.
Northeast Denver, where 3 inches of hail fell, “was a winter wonderland,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Denver firefighters rescued a mother whose 2-year-old son was swept away by a flash flood along a bike path where they were walking.
At Elitch Gardens, the hail broke lights and downed small trees, prompting the park to close several hours early, spokeswoman Brooke Gabbert said.
Visitors were guided to shelters and then moved out of the park after the storm passed.
“With the severe hail, we have to recheck all the rides. It would’ve been a while before we would have been able to reopen,” Gabbert said.
Spotters with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, which began at Colorado State University, reported minor flooding in Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson counties.
As the storm front moved south, Pueblo was pelted with 1- to 2-inch diameter hail—about the size of a golf ball—and gusts up to 60 mph, the National Weather Service said.
Xcel Energy reported scattered power failures.
In northern Colorado, snow and poor visibility closed Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.
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Associated Press Writer Eric Bolin contributed to this report.
