Flood waters and mud are shown on the east side of the main terminal at the Fremont County Airport Thursday morning two hours after heavy rains fell and washed across airport property and into the terminal.
Flash flooding that resulted from nearly four inches of rainfall in eastern Fremont County damaged roads and flooded the terminal at the Fremont County Airport today. Fremont County Airport Manager Dick Baker said the 24 hour rainfall total at the airport was 3.2 inches. There were unconfirmed reports of about four inches of rain in the Upper Beaver Creek area near Penrose. District 3 County Commissioner Ed Norden said his official measurement at the National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Station at KRLN Radio for Cañon City was 3.4 inches. Rainfall reports of 3 ½ to 4 inches were also common across the Lincoln Park area south of Cañon City.
Norden said the ground was already saturated from all of the rain that fell during the day on Wednesday but what prompted a flash flood warning to be issued early Thursday morning was the fact that 1.2 inches of Cañon City’s rainfall total fell in a two hour period from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Similar heavy rainfall and flashing flooding in Upper Beaver Creek caused damage to County Road 132 between Cañon City and Penrose. Besides repairs there, Fremont County road crews were also busy with road repairs to Tennessee Avenue north of Cañon City and on Grandview Avenue. Other streets in the Four Mile area also saw extensive flooding and some washouts including Sherrillwood, Ute, and Stratmoor Drive.
When Airport Manager Dick Baker showed up for work this morning he found 2-3 inches of standing water in the front offices at the airport terminal. Employees spent much of the day cleaning up floodwaters that washed through the building.