MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — With the possibility of more rain on Thursday, town crews got busy cleaning up mud and other debris left behind from Wednesday afternoon’s storm and flash flooding.
The biggest mess was reddish-brown mud on El Paso Boulevard in front of Memorial Park.
A street sweeper removed large sections of mud, while a single worker scraped up smaller accumulations with a shovel and dumped them into a plastic barrel.
Other debris could be seen at the Manitou Avenue/Pawnee Avenue intersection, the parking lot in front of the police and fire stations, and in front of the coin laundry near City Hall.
The mess was a surprise to an Illinois family spending their vacation in the area.
“We were hiking in Woodland Park yesterday and just missed (the storm),” said Lori Haenitsch. “We noticed the red dirt and wondered where it was from. But it’s still beautiful here. The mud is kind of pretty.”
Some town residents said that they heard the emergency siren and flash flood warning for the first time.
Aimee Theelen said that she covered her garden to protect it from hail before walking downtown to see the storm’s aftermath…