Weather Wreaks Havoc With State
Gabriela Resto-Montero and Kieran Nicholson
All 20 Miami-Yoder students, ranging from elementary to high school, spent the night at the house watching Disney movies and eating pasta, garlic bread and salad.
Myers' bus was one of four to become stuck in El Paso County, prompting Gov. Bill Ritter to dispatch the Colorado National Guard to rescue the students and other stranded motorists.
Late Tuesday night, 115 motorists had been rescued, said Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer.
Denver's more than 2 inches of precipitation surpassed the previous record for April 24 of 1.29 inches, according to 9News and the National Weather Service.
The ramp from Interstate 25 to U.S. 6 closed because of flooding, and chain laws went into effect for Interstate 70 at the Eisenhower Tunnel, according to Mindy Crane, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman.
The upslope-fueled spring storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow in Evergreen, west of Denver, by mid-afternoon Tuesday, and more snow was expected through the night.
"It's coming down as hard as we've seen it come down all year," said Doug Donovan, general manager of Echo Mountain Park ski area.
On the Eastern Plains, more than a dozen tornadoes touched down in Lincoln and Cheyenne counties throughout the day, said Judy Packard, a dispatcher at the Cheyenne County Sheriff's Office.
One tornado hit the small town of Wild Horse - on U.S. 287 north of Kit Carson and south of Hugo - leveling at least one building and causing damage to several others, she said.
There were no reports of injuries from the tornadoes.
A 50-ton boulder crashed onto U.S. 285 in the Indian Hills area west of Denver near Parmalee Gulch Road, Crane said. It closed the road, but there were no injuries. About a dozen roads, mostly in the Colorado Springs and mountain areas, remained closed late Tuesday.
Jefferson County Public Schools were planning to close 13 mountain schools today because of the weather.
The forecast for today in Denver calls for a chance of rain or snow this morning before the storm clears out this afternoon. Temperatures will climb into the 50s.
On Thursday there will be a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms in Denver, with a high of 63 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.