CORTEZ – A strong thunderstorm hit the Four Corners on Tuesday, producing lightning that struck a house in central Cortez.
The fire at 502 S. Madison St. start about 7 a.m. and spread to the attic, but firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, Cortez Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde said. A man and woman evacuated the house safely along with their child, he said.
The department sent an engine and ladder truck and eight firefighters, he said. They extinguished the fire by about 8:30 a.m., he added.
A lightning strike may have hit a tree in front of the home, but the tree did not damage the house, he said.
The department also received a call about lightning striking a tree on Road 21 during the morning storm, Vandevoorde said. The Lewis-Arriola Fire District also responded to several storm-related damage calls, he said. There were no reports of flooding in the area, he said.
Heavy rain and hail began falling in the Cortez area about 6:30 a.m. Monday. Cortez meteorologist Jim Andrus said about 0.47 inches of rain had fallen by 9:45 a.m., half the average monthly rainfall for the area. The hail he measured ranged from pea- to marble-size, he said, which was “not big enough to do any damage.”
As of 9:45 a.m., no flood warnings had been issued by the National Weather Service.
The Weather Service issued an advisory Tuesday morning for a strong thunderstorm for western Montezuma and eastern San Juan counties. Doppler radar tracked a strong thunderstorm 14 miles north of Shiprock, moving northwest at 40 mph. Frequent cloud to ground lightning, nickel-size hail and winds in excess of 40 mph were expected in areas including Aneth, Hovenweep National Monument and Towaoc.
Travel was expected to be difficult on roads at the Colorado-New Mexico border including U.S. Highways 160 and 491, and Colorado 41.
