Kaysen Reports No Major Damage From 10-year Storm

Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen says it looks like the city didn’t suffer any major damage from a severe summer storm which hit the area Wednesday night, in part because the city’s storm sewer system functioned well.

Kaysen says he has heard reports from some residents that their basements were flooded, and there was some localized flooding in the downtown area, including the Ames underpass, which city officials closed shortly after midnight. Otherwise the mayor says it appears most of the damage consisted of broken tree branches and similar issues. Officials with Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power say lightning caused a power outage that affected about 700 customers. The outage began around 11:30 pm Wednesday, with power restored to all customers by 3:3o am Thursday.

The mayor says the timing of the storm was fortunate in that city employees recently cleaned out storm sewer inlets, helping the city’s storm sewer system function effectively. Even so, Kaysen says the cleanup from the storm is liklely to take 2-3 weeks to complete. Kaysen says the 2 inches or so of rain received in most areas of the city qualify the thunderstorm as a “ten year storm” for this area.