Monday, July 10, 2006

Hevige regenval Colorado en Kansas

Rain forecast for much of the nation
Flood danger continues in Colorado, Kansas

Monday, July 10, 2006; Posted: 7:37 a.m. EDT (11:37 GMT)



Floods close roads in Colorado (1:23)

Manage Alerts | What Is This? (AP) -- Storm clouds hovered over the Northeast Monday, with a second front bringing more wet weather to the Plains.

Flash flood watches were issued in parts of Kansas and Colorado, and at least a few severe thunderstorms were expected in the southern Plains.

Storms were also expected to travel across the Southwest and into Southeastern California, bringing a risk of dry thunderstorms and a small chance of wildfires.

Skies are expected to be partly to mostly cloudy across the Northwest and Northern Rockies, bringing widespread moderate rain.

Temperatures were expected to climb into the 100s in the Southwest and above 110 degrees in the deserts.

Cooler temperatures are expected along the immediate Pacific coast, and California marine clouds could move as far inland as Sacramento.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Sunday ranged from a low of 39° at Stanley, Idaho, to a high of 114° at Needles, California.

Sunday, a storm packing rain and a tornado moved into southeast Colorado. Downpours north of Pueblo briefly closed an eight-mile section of Interstate 25. (Watch weekend floods close roads in Colorado -- 1:23)

The highway was closed around 5:30 p.m. and reopened about 90 minutes later. Colorado Department of Transportation officials did not immediately have an estimate of how much water was on the road.

Meteorologist Makoto Moore said there were reports of 3 to 4 inches of rain across the northern part of Pueblo County, where a tornado touched down. Several buildings were damaged, but Shorter said it wasn't immediately clear if it was due to the tornado or strong winds.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings. Meteorologists reported 4 to 6 inches of rain in southeast Cheyenne County near the Kansas line.

In New Mexico, a 15-year-old boy fell into a flooded diversion channel in Albuquerque on Saturday evening, and the turbulent current carried him on a 5-mile ride, said Albuquerque fire inspector Gabe Serna. The boy had dropped his keys and slipped into the arroyo when he tried to retrieve them.

It took three attempts before rescue crews could pull him from the swift current, Serna said. He was treated for hypothermia and abrasions at a hospital. (Watch rescuers pull teen from floodwaters -- 1:03)

"I don't know how many times we tell people, 'Do not play in the arroyo.' We always manage to get one that falls in," Serna said.

Thunderstorms dropped an estimated 3 inches of rain in an hour Saturday over Truth or Consequences and the surrounding area, south of Albuquerque, the weather service said.

Flooding washed out roads in Rio Rancho, just north of Albuquerque, and 4 feet of water covered an Interstate 25 exit in Socorro.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens issued a disaster emergency order Saturday for Douglas County, southwest of Denver, where rain had washed out roads and flooded homes in areas stripped of vegetation by a 138,000-acre wildfire in 2002.