BRUSH, Colo. -- A storm moved through Morgan County Wednesday night leaving many standing in water.

The Brush Rodeo was interrupted by high winds, hail and rain. More than 200 people were evacuated and moved to metal buildings on the property at about 7 p.m., when a tornado warning was issued.

A power pole that blew over did not completely go down. It landed on the grandstand, but did not cause major damage. There was no one in the grandstand when it happened.

The East Morgan County Hospital was also hit by flooding and some patients were moved from lower rooms to upper floors. Trained weather spotters reported that 1.98"of rain fell in Brush in less than 30 minutes between 6:30pm and 7:00pm.

24/7 Storm Chaser Tony Laubach reported that the storm had started in the foothills west of Ft. Collins about 3:00pm and slowly drifted along US Highway 34 where it had pulsed up and down in intensity. The storm had decreased in strength after moving just north of Wiggins and then exploded again over I-76 between Ft. Morgan and Brush.

The rapid increase in rain and hail created conditions favorable for wet microbursts. A wet microburst is a sudden rush of rain-cooled air that races to the ground and fans out ahead of the storm much like dumping a bucket of water on the ground. Normally, these events are dry and just kick up a lot of dust. Wet microbursts come loaded with rain and hail.

The microburst hit the town of Brush just after 6:30pm where it did extensive tree damage. Branches as large as 6 to 10 inches in diameter were littered on streets and yards all over town. Laubach says that most large branches avoided coming down on cars and homes. Other storm spotters in the area measured winds as high as 80mph with this event. Laubach was on I-76 about 3 miles west of Brush when the winds hit and said the high winds combined with the heavy rain and penny-sized hail brought the interstate traffic to a near stand-still.

A tornado warning was issued for the storm as radar detected circulation and triggered a "Tornado Vortex Signature" (TVS). A TVS is triggered when radar detects circulation within the low levels of a storm. Because of the difference in wind speed between the Brush storm's microburst and the general surface winds, it hit the TVS threshold and triggered the signature. Winds blowing hard out of the storm at over 80mph blowing to the southeast with winds on the north side coming out of the southeast blowing northwest at 20mph creates a 100mph circulation. The TVS was triggered and the warning was issued. No tornadoes were reported fortunately, but the town was indeed hit with a several minite barrage of high winds.

The rainfall that lasted only 30 minutes created flash flood conditions. Downtown businesses had water coming through the doors as several cars parked downtown had water up to the hoods. Many side streets were impassable due to high water and down trees. Emergency crews were quick to respond with clearing the trees and drains. It took several hours for most of the water to drain.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported from the storm.

The Colorado Dept. of Transportation closed Highway 71 between Highway 14 and the Nebraska state line because of high water on the road. US Highway 34 between Brush and Akron was also closed for a time due to high water.