EL PASO COUNTY — The lead line of a Public Service Message just released in Colorado Springs says, “Don’t underestimate the power of floods.”
The Colorado Springs Fire Department and Pikes Regional Office of Emergency Management teamed together on the message amid a record amount of rainfall for the month of June.
All of the water has resulted in multiple flood events that have pushed streams to dangerous levels and caused standing water to cover roads.
The warning says, “It takes only six inches of water to sweep a person downstream and twelve inches of water to move a car.”
Just days after the message was released another downpour showed why the announcement is needed.
“We were kind of doing rolling closures,” said Ashley Franco with Colorado Springs Fire Department, “We're going to take care of whatever incident was happening there, open it back up, and then go to the next one.”
There were so many flood-related calls, including cars stalled in high water, crews from the south end of the city had to be shifted north to help respond.
Governor Jared Polis verbally declared a declaration of disaster Thursday for four counties including El Paso County following for extreme weather according to the Colorado Office of Emergency Management.
The declaration allows for the use of state emergency funds and allows for the use of state emergency response resources by the county.
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