Heavy rains sent walls of water crashing down mountainsides Thursday in Colorado, cutting off remote towns, forcing the state's largest university to close and leaving at least three people dead across a rugged landscape that included areas blackened by recent wildfires.
A warm, moist storm system has been dropping rain on the region for much of the week. At least 8 inches has fallen in an area spanning from the Wyoming border south to the foothills west of Denver.
In Aurora, a community to the east of Denver, Dr. Greg Forbes says 11.5-inches of rain was measured by 2 p.m. local time. Flooding extended all along the Front Range mountains, including the cities of Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Aurora and Boulder.
Jane Brautigam, city manager in Boulder, has issued a local disaster and emergency declaration.
"A slow-moving area of low pressure over the Rockies combined with a moist, southerly flow at all levels of the atmosphere will keep the threat of locally heavy rain and flooding in place into the weekend," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.
Rain is normally soaked up by a sponge-like layer of pine needles and twigs on the forest floor. But wildfires incinerate that layer and leave a residue in the top layer of soil that sheds water. A relatively light rain can rush down charred hillsides into streambeds, picking up dirt, ash, rocks and tree limbs along the way. Narrow canyons aggravate the threat.
The National Weather Service warned of an "extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation" throughout the region as flooding forced people from their homes and caused mud and rockslides.
"Move to higher ground now. Act quickly to protect your life," the Weather Service warned in numerous bulletins that went out throughout the morning.
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