Flash flood sirens sounded in Manitou Springs for the second time Wednesday.
Just before 8:30 p.m., authorities issued a voluntary evacuation order for all of Manitou Avenue, which stretches through the small mountain town west of Colorado Springs, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said.
A second round of storms, moving in Wednesday evening, led to fresh flash flood warnings for harried El Paso County residents.
A warning is in effect until 12:15 a.m. for El Paso and Teller counties, including the Waldo Canyon burn area, Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs.
For the second time during the day, U.S. 24 was closed west of Colorado Springs, the Colorado State Patrol said, and would remain closed until the warning was lifted.
Warnings were also issued for the southern part of El Paso County, including Fountain and Fort Carson.
“A lot of the mitigation work we’ve done in the last few months has worked really well,” Dave Hunting, public information officer for the Manitou fire department, said.
Twelve people had checked into a Red Cross shelter opened in a church in Manitou, all of whom were unable to travel up U.S. 24 to their homes, according to the Pikes Peak Red Cross. Another 13 people were evacuated from their homes in Chipita Park to the Ute Pass Elementary School.
“People just kind of say this is the way we are going to live our lives for a little while,” Hunting said.
Further south, 157 boy scouts were evacuated from the Spanish Peaks Scout Ranch near Walsenburg to a Red Cross evacuation center at roughly 11 p.m.
High water was also reported across U.S. 50 about 20 miles east of Pueblo, the patrol’s Pueblo headquarters said, adding that there was also high water on Interstate 25 south of the city.
Earlier, flood sirens sounded during the afternoon in Manitou Springs.
The weather situation in the Colorado Springs area quickly went south and meteorologists and law enforcement had to deal with localized flooding and hail damage in areas around the burn scar area.
One to two inches of rain fell in El Paso County from about 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., according to police.
U.S. 24 west of Colorado Springs reopened about 4:30 p.m. after being closed for almost two hours following the first storm.
Colorado Highway 94 in Colorado Springs was closed in the late afternoon because of flooding, the Colorado State Patrol said.
The Colorado State Patrol reported that large hail was falling near Interstate 25 and the Air Force Academy a little after 3 p.m.
A car was struck by lightning on Colorado 115 south of Colorado Springs about 4 p.m., causing the airbags to deploy, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
A woman inside the vehicle was taken to the hospital, KKTV Channel 11 news in Colorado Springs reported.
Fire crews in Colorado Springs also reported that they were responding to a lightning fire in the city and police said that they were monitoring localized street flooding on the west side of town.
The warnings and thunderstorms came on the heels of a flash flood watch that was issued for most of southern Colorado as a fresh round of afternoon thunderstorms is expected.
Emergency officials were encouraging residents to stay inside and off of the roads.
The service said especially heavy rain is expected near the Continental Divide and the danger continues until midnight.
The service said “very moist atmosphere remains in place” and storms could produce 2 inches of rain in a short period.
Overall, the watch includes all of Colorado from El Paso County on south nearly to New Mexico and from the Kansas border to the San Juan Mountains.
A flood warning remains in effect for the Arkansas River near La Junta.
A flash flood watch continues for the Durango area until midnight and a separate warning was issued north of Steamboat Springs.
Overall, temperatures were much cooler Wednesday in Colorado and Denver’s high was a cool 74 degrees.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jesseapaul
