DENVER – There was more heavy rain over already soggy Colorado flooded highways, rural roads, farm fields and parks along swollen rivers and streams Friday.
The Denver area got 2 to 4 inches of rain between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, with some of the heaviest falling in Douglas County south of Denver. There, four trails were closed in Castle Rock, and city officials warned residents to avoid swift-moving water in the street.
Several rural roads were flooded in Elbert and Weld counties. Rain stranded cars and led to at least two water rescues in Colorado Springs on Thursday night.
To the north, no significant problems were reported in areas devastated by Colorado’s 2013 floods.
The weather system was moving over the eastern plains Friday, but high water in Plum Creek in Douglas County as well as the Poudre and South Platte rivers to the north slowly will make its way downstream over the coming days, said Jim Kalina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Parts of Oklahoma and Kansas could see isolated flooding from rains, Kalina said.
A strengthening El Niño system and a low pressure system over the Four Corners area drew moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Blanca into Colorado, and a cold front from the northeast helped produce the latest rains. The Front Range has seen unusually wet weather for more than a month.
Rain also fell along the churning Arkansas River near Salida on Friday as search crews found an 11-year-old boy from Golden who went missing after he fell from a raft.
Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze said the body was found Friday afternoon, but investigators haven’t confirmed if it’s the missing boy.
The river is running high because of melting snow and recent rain.
Homes in one small eastern plains town have been without water for more than a week. The swollen South Platte River caused the town of Iliff’s water main to burst May 31, forcing its 250 residents to rely on water stored in two 500-gallon bladders, bottled water and portable toilets. The river’s water level must fall before the main can be fully repaired.
