Search continues for three people missing after flash flood
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office continued its search Thursday for three people who remain missing after a flash flood pushed through the Cameron Peak burn scar, killing at least one person and destroying five houses.
On Thursday afternoon, the sheriff’s office called for voluntary evacuations in the Glen Haven area along West Larimer 43 near Drake because of the potential for more floods. The emergency message included those who live in The Retreat and Storm Mountain subdivisions.
The warning advised people to move livestock and pets and to prepare for a mandatory evacuation order, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
One woman’s body was recovered Wednesday. She and the three missing people were together in the Black Hollow area when the flash flood happened, said Jered Kramer, a Larimer County sheriff’s spokesman. The missing are two men and one woman.
“We believe they were in or at one of the residences,” he said.
The Cache de Poudre River
remains closed, Kramer said. Camping also is not allowed in the area.
Transportation officials reopened Colorado 14, but the highway could be closed temporarily as authorities use heavy equipment to clear mud and debris caused by the flood, Kramer said.
Wildfires from 2020 left hundreds of thousands of acres burned in Colorado, and those burn areas are not able to hold water when monsoon rains pass through the mountains. The flooding repeatedly has caused mudslides across Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon, where the Grizzly Creek fire burned 32,631 acres.
On Wednesday, the Colorado Department of Transportation closed Colorado 125 in Grand County after a storm sent mud and other debris crashing onto the road.
That stretch reopened Thursday afternoon, but a mudslide further north closed the highway again several hours later.
As of Thursday morning, no storms were in the forecast in Larimer County but Colorado weather can change rapidly, so Kramer advised people to remain alert for rising water. The National Weather Service tries to provide as much lead time as possible, he said.
“Oftentimes people see water rising before they receive notification. If people see water rising, they need to seek higher ground immediately and not wait for a radio alert or cellphone alert,” he said.
The National Weather Service in Boulder said Thursday that slow-moving storms continue to threaten burn areas.