Heavy Rain, Flooding Hits Wellington

WELLINGTON, Colo. (CBS4)- Heavy rain pounded much of Colorado on Saturday, but few communities took such a bit hit as Wellington.

Interstate 25 near Dacono was closed in both directions for a few hours Saturday evening. Crews from the Colorado Department of Transportation used snow plows to clear water from the lanes.

Most of that water had soaked in or dried up by Sunday morning except for the areas surrounding the small community of Wellington located about 30 miles south of Cheyenne, Wyo.

"It was literally coming through the foundation of our liquor store, so our whole cooler was swamped and the back room was swamped and we had plungers and pumps and everything just trying to keep the water out of the retail section of our store," said Wellington resident Paul Martin.

Martin owns a liquor store and they suffered some damage from the storm. The rain came down so hard and so fast that it turned streets into rivers and fields into lakes.

"This whole street was bumper deep and our parking lot, over here at the store, actually floated the dumpster- that big, heavy metal dumpster- was floating through the parking lot. It was hilarious," said Martin.

Some residents said they haven't seen a storm like that in more than a decade.

"I've been here 13 years and we've had a couple of good storms but we've never had anything like this," said Martin. "You couldn't even see I-25 and we're 200 yards away."