Flash floods in southern Colorado have led to the evacuation of two towns about 30 miles west of Pueblo.
Residents living near Hardscrabble Creek in western Front Range towns Wetmore and Greenwood were asked to find higher ground at about 7:15 p.m. due to flash floods in the towns.
While the National Weather Service in Pueblo described in a tweet the flash floods as a “dangerous situation,” Custer County spokeswoman Cindy Howard said no one was injured.
Dangerous situation in Wetmore and Greenwood. Flash flooding is occurring and the towns are being evacuated.
— NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo)
The service also reported that three-to-four feet of water on the Colorado 96 bridge over the creek was expected to cause the bridge to fail, but Howard said the bridge is currently passable.
While highway 96 is cleared, the weather service reports that many county roads are damaged and closed, and that highway 165 was reported impassable from mile marker 1 through 6.
With most of Colorado facing showers Saturday, much of southern Colorado is under a flash flood watch.
The watch started at noon and will remain in effect until 3 a.m. on Sunday.
The southeast is under watch due to continued precipitation the past few days, and Jefferson County’s higher terrain mixed with the rainfall creates favorable conditions for flash floods, National Weather Service spokesman Kyle Fredin said. While Jefferson County was on watch Saturday afternoon, it has since been lifted.
The flash flood watch extends from the Colorado-New Mexico border and stops just before Arapahoe County.
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