Guard rescues thousands trapped in Colorado flood
LYONS, Colo. — The rescue of Coloradans stranded by epic mountain flooding accelerated Saturday as debris-filled rivers became muddy seas that extended into towns and farms miles from the Rockies. Authorities expected to find more fatalities when the full scope of the destruction is known.
Helicopters and hundreds of National Guard troops searched the mountainous terrain for people as food and water supplies ran low in remote communities cut off since Thursday. Thousands were being driven to safety in convoys.
A woman was missing and presumed dead after witnesses saw floodwaters from the Big Thompson River destroy her home in the Cedar Cove area, Larimer County sheriff’s spokesman John Schulz said.
“We’re sure there are going to be additional homes that have been destroyed, but we won’t know that for a while,” Schulz said. “I expect that we’re going to continue to receive reports of confirmed missing and confirmed fatalities throughout the next several days.”
Four people have been confirmed dead since the harrowing flooding began Wednesday. The high water has affected an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
National Guard helicopters flew in and out of the mountain hamlet of Jamestown after it became isolated by rushing water that scoured the canyon in which the village sits. But not everyone was willing to leave. Dozens of people wanted to stay to watch over their homes.
Authorities made it clear that residents who chose not to leave might not get another chance for a while.
“We’re not trying to force anyone from their home. We’re not trying to be forceful, but we’re trying to be very factual and definitive about the consequences of their decision, and we hope that they will come down,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said.
The outlook for anyone who preferred to stay behind was bleak: weeks without electricity, cellphone service or running water.
“Essentially, what they were threatening us with is, ‘If you stay here, you may be here for a month,’” said resident Dean Hollenbaugh, 79, who chose to be evacuated.
Special-education teacher Brian Shultz, 38, was torn about leaving his Jamestown home.
“I was thinking about staying. I could have lasted at least a year. I have a lot of training in wilderness survival,” he said, adding that he probably had enough beer to last the whole time.
His wife, Meagan Harrington, gave him a wry smile. About 10 of their neighbors declined to evacuate, she said.
Shultz teared up behind his sunglasses as he compared his situation with that of his neighbors.
“At least all of our stuff’s there and will be there when we get back. The people right by the river, their houses were washed away. Other people thought their houses were going to be OK, and then they started to go. It’s just really devastating.”
About 295 people were evacuated from Jamestown and more from the mountain town of Lyons.
By Saturday night, 1,750 people and 300 pets had been evacuated from Boulder and Larimer counties, National Guard Lt. James Goff said.
On Friday, 138 sixth-graders had to be escorted down a mountain on foot by an Alpine rescue team and sheriff’s deputies after they became trapped during a five-day outdoor nature camp. Access to the camp, near Evergreen, was blocked by flooding, downed power lines and fallen trees. All of the children made the trek safely and were reunited with parents, said Melissa Reeves, a Jefferson County schools spokesman.
On Saturday, 188 children and adults were being aided at another nearby outdoor camp where they were trapped near Jamestown.
“We’re going to get them out one way or another,” Liz Donaghey, a spokesman for the Boulder Office of Emergency Management, told the Los Angeles Times. She said if roads remain impassable, the campers will be removed by helicopters.
Guardsmen also dropped food, water and other supplies to some residents in winding, narrow canyons that cut through the Rocky Mountain foothills.
The American Red Cross of Central and Western Oklahoma said Saturday that several volunteers were deploying from the Norman area, Duncan and Enid to go help. The agency will also send an emergency-response vehicle to Colorado.
Although the number of confirmed deaths stood at four, authorities feared more bodies will turn up in areas that remain inaccessible.
Two fatalities were identified by the Boulder County coroner Saturday as Wesley Quinlan and Wiyanna Nelson, both 19.
Authorities believe that they died when they were swept away after driving into floodwaters and then leaving their vehicle. Their cause of death is under investigation.
More than 170 people remained unaccounted for in Boulder County, but that nummiles ber could include people who are still stranded or who escaped but have not yet contacted authorities, the sheriff said.
The days-long rush of water from higher ground turned towns on Colorado’s expansive eastern plains into muddy swamps. Crews used inflatable boats to rescue families and pets from stranded farmhouses. Some evacuees riding horses had to be escorted to safe ground.
A helicopter taking Gov. John Hickenlooper on a tour of the flooded areas stopped to pick up four stranded people and their two pets. The governor tweeted about the impromptu rescue, and spokesman Eric Brown confirmed it but did not have any details.
Near Greeley, some 35 east of the foothills, broad swaths of farmland had become lakes, and the raging South Platte and Poudre rivers required the rescues of stranded residents late into the night, the Greeley Tribune reported.
Hundreds of roads were closed or damaged by floodwaters, and a 70-mile stretch of Interstate 25 was closed from Denver to the Wyoming line. After being closed for more than a day, I-25 was reopened Saturday.
In one Boulder neighborhood, residents turned back city crews and machinery that arrived to remove the makeshift berms and sand-filled trash bags used to protect their homes. University of Colorado students helped as homeowners improvised to divert the rising water from Gregory Creek.
“The residents know better than anybody else how the water flows through the neighborhood,” said Colleen Scanlan Lyons.
Rain from the same storms have also hit New Mexico, where state police said a man died after his vehicle was washed into a ravine covered in mud near the Elephant Butte dam.
New Mexico State Police Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said the vehicle was washed off the roadway, probably Friday during flooding.
The death is the first related to flooding in New Mexico this week from record rainfall and overflowing rivers.
Gov. Susana Martinez issued a state of emergency Friday to release recovery funding for flooded communities.