Isolated showers are possible again tonight, following a deluge Friday night in which Denver firefighters answered more than 200 flash-flood calls.
“This is considered flash-flood season,” said Todd Dankers, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder. “However, the threat for super heavy rain has reduced.”
Denver firefighters rescued 18 people trapped in their cars last night during a 2.5-hour span, District 3 Fire Chief Terry Neiman said this morning.
“We had a lot of people drive into water,” Neiman said. “People shouldn’t drive into water when they don’t know how deep it is.”
In many cases, drivers abandoned their vehicles because of rising waters.
The Denver Fire Department was using its fire engines to push or pull vehicles out of water, Neiman said. About 13 stranded drivers were near Quebec Street and Florida Avenue, fire officials said.
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 drowning and a lightning strike on a house.
Rockies fans huddled under plastic as a heavy rains moved over Coors Field Friday night.
There were no reports of deaths.
The National Weather Service said 1 to 2.5 inches of rain fell from 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.
Today, Dankers said, scattered showers will fall in the Denver metro area with up to 1.5 inches expected in some areas. Because the storms are slow-moving, there is a potential for flash floods, he said.
“There is plenty of moisture around that can produce heavy showers,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your eye on the sky.”
Temperatures will rise to about 87 degrees today in the Denver area, Dankers said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
