AURORA | Shooter-marble sized hail, strong winds and at least one funnel cloud hammered central and southeast Aurora this afternoon as a strong spring storm swept across the metro area.
Some flooding was reported Tuesday afternoon, mostly due to hail and rain choking storm drains. Police closed the southbound lanes of Gun Club Road at East Sixth Avenue at about 4:30 p.m. due to flooding.
Aurora’s police and fire dispatch center in southeast Aurora was evacuated for a short time around 4 p.m., but officials aid 911 service was not interrupted during the evacuation. Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Chris Amsler said when the dispatch center is evacuated, dispatchers can flip a switch that sends all 911 calls to Arapahoe County’s dispatch center until Aurora dispatchers return.
“We never had any type of 911 outage,” he said.
Some officers near the deportment’s District 3 station in southeast Aurora saw what appeared to be a funnel cloud in the area and ordered the evacuation, he said.
The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for Arapahoe County until 4:30 p.m. A warning means that residents should take shelter immediately.
Cherry Creek Schools officials said they are keeping area elementary school children at school until the threat of weather has passed.
Widespread hail is reported across the city.