Branches and leaves littered the sidewalks of Cortez Wednesday after Tuesday afternoon’s flash flood warning gave way to heavy rain, hail and strong wind.
“This was a significant storm event that produced widespread damage across the city, varying in severity by location,” Jason Chaffin, Cortez Public Works superintendent, said in a statement. “The most substantial impacts resulted from flooding; however, considerable wind damage also occurred, with fallen trees, branches, and leaves obstructing storm drains and further exacerbating drainage issues.”
On Tuesday, Montezuma County asked residents to avoid driving between Cortez and Road P and U.S. Highway 491 and Colorado Highway 145 due to streets inundated with water, which alleviated as water drained from Hartman Draw into McElmo Creek.
Montezuma County spokesperson Vicki Shaffer said the Road and Bridge Department spent Tuesday evening assessing road safety and ensuring culverts were properly functioning to mitigate flooding.
Shaffer added that the Road and Bridge superintendent expressed concern to her about the increased traffic following the storm as people drove around the county to see the damage themselves. She cautioned residents against driving through heavily flooded streets.
“When a road is covered with floodwaters, number one, you can't see what is in the water,” Shaffer said. “Also, you can't tell if there's damage to the road itself, if it's been washed out, or if the dirt underneath the road has shifted. So we strongly encourage people not to drive across flooded areas.”
The flooding and heavy downpour also littered sidewalks, roads and yards with branches and leaves. According to Shaffer, the county landfill received an abundance of green waste in the wake of the storm.
Cortez Refuse and Recycling Superintendent Colby Earley, said Cortez waste services were collecting the debris from residents’ curbs on a special cleanup schedule through July 30.
“Small limbs placed by the curb will be collected with regular trash for this event. Limbs should be single and/or bundled at weights of no more than 50 lbs,” Earley said in a statement.
He said his crews were working to relocate waste bins swept away in the storm. Earley advised residents to contact local tree care companies to manage damaged large trees on their properties.
The Cortez Police Department lost one of the trees surrounding its offices, uprooted in the storm. By Wednesday afternoon, its remnants were cut up and ready to be removed from the turf outside the department.
Cortez Parks and Recreation Department employees spent Wednesday gathering debris and successfully cleared away hazards within 24 hours of the storm, according to Scott Spear, parks superintendent.
“The most significant impacts within our parks included numerous fallen tree branches, flood-related debris and sediment, scattered trash, displaced landscaping materials, several uprooted trees and some minor structural damage to park amenities,” Spear said in a statement. “With additional thunderstorms forecast this week, the City remains prepared to respond as conditions warrant.”
National Weather Service Forecaster Brooke Scholtens said afternoon thunderstorms are expected through Thursday with areas east of Cortez expecting further storms over the weekend, although their exact locations and timeline can be unpredictable and swift moving.
“They pop up where they want to, and they pop up fairly quickly,” Scholtens said of the heavy summer thunderstorms. “We want people to be very weather aware and just have multiple ways to receive those warnings.”
She said people should keep their phones or a weather radio handy in the event of urgent weather alerts, like the mobile warning that pinged Cortez residents’ phones Tuesday.
“We have our common practices of ‘when thunder roars, go indoors,’” Scholtens added. “You don't want to be anywhere where lightning is striking and that seems to be the best safe practice for these storms.”
avanderveen@the-journal.com
