Heavy rain swept through the city this evening, causing drivers to abandon their vehicles because of rising waters.
The Denver Fire Department said it was using its fire engines to push vehicles out of water. Most of the stranded drivers were near Quebec Street and Florida Avenue, said Joe Hart, spokesman for the department.
Three people were rescued after Cherry Creek flooded a bike path downtown, Denver Fire spokesman Phil Champagne said. Rescuers floated with the victims down the creek to a bridge to get out of the water.
Champagne said firefighters helped numerous drivers stranded in water as deep as 4 feet in some places.
Firefighters also received calls of near drownings, a lightning strike on a house and flooded basements but had no reports of deaths.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said the water levels were high on Interstate 25 near Alameda Avenue, with standing water closing at least three lanes. The department encouraged drivers to seek alternative routes.
Flooded streets were also reported in other Denver neighborhoods.
The National Weather Service said that 1 to 2.5 inches of rain has fallen since about 7:10 p.m. and up to 1.4 inches of rain fell within about 40 minutes on parts of southeast Denver and southwest Aurora.
There are estimates that about 3 inches of rain fell near Wiggins within 45 minutes.
A flash flood warning was issued in Denver and western Arapahoe County tonight after a heavy thunderstorm rolled over the metro area, including downtown.
Because of the heavy rain in Denver, 9News said it was having technical difficulties with the feed from NBC for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. The problems included a short loss of sound and lack of High Definition signal.
The station said the Opening Ceremonies would be re-broadcast on NBC starting at 1:30 a.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
