Flooding forces Colorado evacuations as heat dome grips the West

Residents in parts of Colorado are facing another round of evacuations as heavy rain triggers flash flooding in areas recently devastated by wildfires.

(CNN)- Residents in parts of Colorado are facing another round of evacuations as heavy rain triggers flash flooding in areas recently devastated by wildfires.

Some residents forced from their homes by the Aspen Acres Fire earlier this month were allowed to return last Friday, only to evacuate again days later as rain moved over wildfire burn scars.

“We survived the fire, thank God, but now we’ve got to survive the floods,” evacuee Michael Romero said.

Heavy rainfall over burned areas can quickly trigger flash flooding as well as dangerous flows of mud and debris.

Along the West Coast, communities are facing dangerous high surf, rip currents and the threat of coastal flooding.

Southern California is also dealing with an unusually long heat wave as a powerful heat dome spreads across the western United States.

Around 40 million people are under heat alerts, with at least 12 states potentially facing record-high temperatures.

Extreme heat is also affecting Europe, which is experiencing its fourth heat wave of the summer. The high temperatures are worsening massive wildfires that have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.