Friday’s flash floods were Manitou Springs’ worst disaster in decades

Battered, bloodied and muddied, Manitou Springs on Saturday began to dig out of its worst disaster in decades. Wielding shovels, water pumps, skid loaders and backhoes, Manitou Springs home and business owners took to recovering from a massive and deadly flash flood that hit Friday evening, leaving one man dead and two people reported missing. The force of the four-foot wall of water, mud and debris that roared off the Waldo Canyon burn scar could be measured in the mess revealed at dawn Saturday: Six houses destroyed; 11 houses seriously damaged; 23 buildings with cosmetic damage; 40 cars towed off Manitou Springs streets and more off U.S. 24; broken gas, sewer and water lines, and at least 20 businesses that had to shut down at least temporarily.