Denver Homeowner: 'Everything Is Flooded, Everything Is Completely Gone'
DENVER (CBS4) - Homeowners in the area of 33rd Avenue and Olive Street in Denver are cleaning up on Thursday after water poured into homes during Wednesday's powerful storm that moved through the metro area.
"It was overwhelming," said homeowner Andre Payne.
Payne took video of his home flooding. His front yard looked like a lake and his basement is a total loss. Right outside he saw Cora Wallace trapped inside her car.
"Water was seeping in, up until my waist, or maybe higher," Wallace said.
"I asked her if she can swim, and she said, 'No.' And she was scared," Payne said. "And I told her, 'Don't try anything, I'm going to come get you.' "
"It was an experience I never want to happen again," Wallace said.
Across the street Dora Synder was cleaning up the ruins from 3-feet of flood water at her family's home.
"Everything is flooded, everything is completely gone and I have no idea how we're going to get it all out of there," Snyder said. "There's mud, there's muck, there's leaves."
Residents hope the city will provide an update to the old gutter and drain system.
"It floods like this every time … every time that comes a real hard rain," Snyder said.
At the same time basements were flooding, streets also turned into rivers, catching commuters off guard. Tom was caught in rushing water at 14th and Kearney on his bike ride home from work.
"This weather is something else this year, whoa!" he said.
But drivers trying to get through had even bigger troubles. Wading through waist-deep water, rescue crews carried stranded drivers to safety as residents took cover.
"Pretty wicked. I've lived here for 31-years. This is probably the most intense storm in this area that I've ever seen," resident Chris Hazelton said.
Hazelton drove through the downpour, getting home just as a tornado warning sounded.
"It was just monstrous. It just came down so fast. I took my cats, ran into the bathroom, hunkered down in there with my little portable radio," Hazelton said.