EPIC Hail and Floods in Colorado Springs

This article seems to downplay this situation a bit, this put cars underwater in some areas (3 inches???).. But ah well, what can we do. A press conference is scheduled soon to address the aftermath.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Rain usually is welcome in Colorado Springs, but not when it all seems to fall at once and as furiously as it did Wednesday evening. A stationary severe thunderstorm dumped hail and as much as three inches of rain on the city's east side and in El Paso County. The conditions resulted in flooding, erosion, closed streets, stalled vehicles and stranded motorists between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

www.krdo.com...


Last night, just as I was coming home from a drive, a massive storm erupted in Colorado Springs. I live on the westside, and luckily the storm only caused some light rain/wind/hail on my side of town. As for the north, central and eastern parts of the city, they were not so lucky.

Here are some incredible pictures submitted by KK11 news, Koaa 5 news and residents who submitted pics to their facebook pages.

I actually saw these clouds just before the storm hit, I've seen them here on ATS before. Now I know they can mean bad news.



Over by the Citadel mall, last night.



No, that isn't snow!



I'm glad I didn't decide on Fargo's Pizza last night..



Here is a pic from this morning over by the mall. Incredible.



More pics can be found here: (Must sign in to Facebook)

KKTV 11 News
News 5 KOAA

There you go, just thought I'd share.

Wow! You guys got hit hard. I live up in Castle Rock and it wasn't nearly as bad up here. We had a pretty awesome lightning show for at least 5 hours and some rain but nothing like what you saw down there! Those same cloud patterns rolled through here though, pretty cool to see.

Wow, just freaking wow.
Second line, cause what more can be said.

reply to post by premierepastimes


Glad you guys didn't get hit as hard! I have a brother in Castle Rock, and it sounds like it was just a decent thunderstorm by the time it got there.

Hail isn't uncommon here but damn, this one packed a bigger than usual punch! The hail lingered for like 2 hours, that did not help lol.

I graduated from Rampart(go Rams) back in 88. I remember, other than the 3:30 pm shower everyday, only a few really bad storms(not including a couple of snow storms) but nothing as bad as those pictures depict. Just for my own curiosity, you captioned a couple of the pics at "the mall". Which mall? Citadel, Chapel Hills, etc? As you know Chapel hills sits at the bottom of the hill from Rampart.

Edit to add: I went back to look at the pics again and saw that you put "Citadel". I don't know how I missed that sorry. So how was Academy blvd.?

We had the hail thing happen in Texas where i live for the first time maybe likeva month ago did w lot of damage....made me a fat check cause of all the vehicles we fixed

Originally posted by Agarta
I graduated from Rampart(go Rams) back in 88. I remember, other than the 3:30 pm shower everyday, only a few really bad storms(not including a couple of snow storms) but nothing as bad as those pictures depict. Just for my own curiosity, you captioned a couple of the pics at "the mall". Which mall? Citadel, Chapel Hills, etc? As you know Chapel hills sits at the bottom of the hill from Rampart.

Edit to add: I went back to look at the pics again and saw that you put "Citadel". I don't know how I missed that sorry. So how was Academy blvd.?

edit on 7-6-2012 by Agarta because: (no reason given)

Yeah, the weather here is usually pretty mild and it's actually been quite a bummer to be honest lol. This was a change from the norm for sure!

From what I'm hearing Acedemy was hit very hard from N. Carefree down to around Platte ave being hit the worst!

Up here in Aurora we got some hail, and it rained for 5 hours, but it was nothing compared to the Springs. The tornado sirens went off though. Had me running around like a crazy dog. Glad you guys are okay. What a light show that was!

reply to post by Slash


Usually the Denver area gets hit harder than we do when it comes to storms. I guess it was our turn this time!

reply to post by Wookiep


I guess. lol. I use to live in the Springs when I was a kid, I've seen some crazy storms. But yesterday was crazy. I got to see a tornado at least. Always exciting.

Oh man. You guys saw the bubbly clouds!

Only time I've seen those, one time in Atlanta, was when a tornado passed a mere 1/4 mile from my house and left a 3/4 mile wide path of destruction. Lots of lightning in those clouds too, like it was constant, never stopped. You guys lucked out you didn't get flattened by a twister!

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Trust me, when those sirens went off, I was outside in a second looking up. My place got hit 2 years ago, not much damage but it came out of nowhere. Crazy Colorado weather. lol

Edit to add: I've seen those bubbly clouds quite a few times throughout my 27 years. They're a good/bad sign of micro bursts and tornadic activity.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


I had never seen them in person myself, just on ATS. When I saw those clouds I immediately thought "oh sh^&. we might be in for it"

What was really weird was I was out on the back patio with my mom watching the light show, and there was one place that kept getting hit with lightning, 3, 4, 6, times. The same place. No buildings there. I went to bed and the power went out sometime when I was asleep. This morning my net was down. So I went to my store I work at to get some breakfast and my boss is freaking out. The main computer was fried. I'm glad I got today off. lol

reply to post by Slash


Wow! That description reminds me of this: (only a crappy version avail on youtube I guess)

reply to post by Wookiep


That was my thought exactly (love that movie)lol. My mom and I were discussing it this morning trying to figure it out. Perhaps something underground like those suspected tunnels running from DIA to other places? I dunno. lol

I'm in Castle Rock and it was the scariest hail storm I've ever experienced in my life.

We got almost 12 inches of hail AND 3 inches of rain, in 3 hours or so. I still have a solid blanket of almost 4 inch deep hail in my backyard. Almost broke the windows out, golf ball-size hail for 2 hours straight, broke all the trees, shredded everything, ground is covered in leaves, flowers demolished, strawberry patch is just a few upright sticks. Snow plows came through to scoop the hail off roads, 5 tornadoes here, closest one to us just outside of the Castle Pines area, about two miles away from us. The windows started bending in from the hail and winds, neighbors back windows shattered. We were under tornado warnings from 7:15 pm until 10:45 pm. We do not tornado sirens here, either. We had no cell service for almost 3 hours, no TV for a few hours, but oddly enough, the internet worked. That's the only way I knew what was happening with the tornadoes, because of intellicast. The storm cells were moving from south to NE, but then the storm system that went over The Pinery backed up, moved back to the south and west and sat over us, nearly stationary, for hours. Then, just as oddly, it moved back the original direction it was going. The noise the hail made hitting windows was deafening. I have video of it on my cell, but need to figure out how to upload it to my comp. w/o bluetooth (i don't have a dongle).

We are now under tornado watch, as we are supposed to have an exact repeat of yesterday's storms today, expecting inches of rain and more hail. I spent weeks in my garden and planting and I am devastated. But, could have been much worse, so I'm grateful. Several businesses in Castle Rock are closed today, due to broken windows, doors, etc.

Originally posted by premierepastimes
Wow! You guys got hit hard. I live up in Castle Rock and it wasn't nearly as bad up here. We had a pretty awesome lightning show for at least 5 hours and some rain but nothing like what you saw down there! Those same cloud patterns rolled through here though, pretty cool to see.

Where are you? I'm in the Meadows and it is like a bomb went off!

reply to post by mountaingirl1111


5 tornadoes? That's impressive, did they all touch down? Sounds like you got hit about as hard as the Springs!

Tornado watch here in Aurora again. Hang in there my Coloradan friends and stay safe. I'm going storm chasing.