Hail storm aftermath

July 15--CHEYENNE -- The heavy rain and hail that struck Cheyenne on Sunday was very selective. Some areas of the city saw little, if any, precipitation, while others saw plenty.

And for those unfortunate latter areas, "plenty" was an understatement.

Hail was still piled up to a foot high in front of Sarah and David Landstrom's home at 1103 E. 23rd St. Monday morning while their tenant, Penny Plumley, tried to figure out how she was going to piece her life back together.

Plumley has been renting out the basement level of the Landstroms' house for the last eight years, and she was home when a torrent of rain broke down her door Sunday afternoon, flooding the basement with more than four feet of water.

"I was in the bedroom, and I was going to lay down when my phone alarm went off saying there was a tornado warning," Plumley said. "I got on the phone with my boyfriend and then, oh my gosh, my entertainment center was coming down the hall."

Both of Plumley's entrance doors were broken down by flood waters, and because she was unable to flee due to bad legs, Plumley herself had to call 911 to get first-responders to come to her rescue.

"It was like a river; it was unbelievable how fast it was," she said. "Thank the good lord it was just me and my dog, and not a young mother with kids."

After a brief stay in the hospital -- she escaped any major injury -- Plumley returned to her home Monday afternoon, watching tearfully as storm damage cleaners with Servpro and James Tolman Construction removed her waterlogged furniture.

"I've lost everything, pretty much," Plumley said, noting that while she had renter's insurance, that insurance didn't cover natural disasters.

David Landstrom said he expects flood insurance to cover the damage to the building itself, though Plumley's possessions are a lost cause. Like his tenant, Landstrom had trouble believing the severity and the selectiveness of the storm, noting how homes within sight of his own managed to avoid any major hail or flooding.

"I was in the flood in '72 in Rapid City, and this is the craziest thing I've ever seen," Landstrom said, adding that the hail "was so deep yesterday, you'd have swore it was the middle of winter."

While Plumley does have another place to stay, the Landstroms have established a disaster relief account at First Interstate Bank to help pay for replacing her possessions.

Fortunately, Plumley appeared to be one of only a few Cheyenne residents who were put in actual danger by Sunday's storm. Cheyenne Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Martin said his department received only one other call for flood assistance from the same area.

"Most of it was just false commercial alarms due to the weather and trees down on houses," Martin said. He added that those who do have downed trees on their property should contact the city's Department of Urban Forestry if the trees have fallen into the city right of way but do not otherwise pose a hazard.

"If it's not in the city right of way, then they need to get a hold of a tree surgeon," Martin said.

Elsewhere in town, the storm did some cosmetic damage to work on the new Okie Blanchard Stadium at East High School. Laramie County School District 1 assistant superintendent of support operations Dave Bartlett said the damage looked worse than it really is.

"A lot of it was flatwork, the horizontal metal; they had it laid out and were in the process of attaching it when the storm came up," Bartlett said. "It can't be reused, but the contractor doesn't believe it's an inventory item that will delay the project."

Aside from Okie Blanchard, LCSD1 facilities administrator Greg Tucker said the rest of the district's buildings appeared to have weathered the storm without any major issues.

"I spoke with a couple of my foremen here for the grounds and buildings, and we sustained very minor damage," Tucker said. "We had a few tree limbs down, but we didn't lose any whole trees. And we had a few minor leaks because of the driving rain, but our buildings sustained very little damage."

Some of the flower beds planted around town, including those at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, also took a hit, as did many residential gardens. But county horticulturalist Catherine Wissner said there's still plenty of time in the season for those plants to bounce back.

"While they may not be as big and beautiful as they could have been, they will come back," Wissner said, adding that those who choose to replant now can "still expect to have good color and good bloom. We're going into the warm part of summer now, so new plants should grow a lot faster."

Those planning to replant may wish to wait until this weekend, however. The National Weather Service in Cheyenne is predicting a good chance for additional severe weather today, with lower chances Wednesday and Thursday.

"We're going to be having a storm system coming in, moving southeast into eastern Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle by the afternoon," said local meteorologist Chris Hammer. "As that happens, we're going to be looking at southeast winds developing over the plains, and that's going to mean upslope flow over the mountains that will provide support for fairly widespread showers and thunderstorms over Tuesday afternoon and evening."

Hammer said those storms could bring additional high winds and hail, as well as yet another possibility for a tornado.

"There is a chance that some of these storms could be severe," he said. "We will stay in a similar pattern for the next several days, so we will be looking at a continued chance of showers and thunderstorms generally in the afternoon and evening on Wednesday and Thursday as well, though as far as any severe potential would be concerned, the chances on Wednesday and Thursday are not as good."

To give your support:

Local landlords Sarah and David Landstrom have established a disaster relief account to help their tenant, Penny Plumley, who lost most of her possessions in Sunday's heavy flooding. Those interested in helping may donate through either of the two First Interstate Bank branches in Cheyenne, located at 4612 Rue Terre and 401 W. 19th St. Donations may also be mailed to P.O. Box 1710, Cheyenne, WY 82003. Checks should be made payable to The Penny L. Plumley Disaster Relief Fund.

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