Chad Obrien, right, and his friend Church Poula work to remove water from Obrien’s basement as Obrien’s four year old son Elijah watches, several days after massive flooding swept through Longmont, Colo., Wednesday Sept. 18, 2013. As water recedes and flows east onto the Colorado plains, rescuers are shifting their focus from emergency airlifts to trying to find the hundreds of people still unaccounted for after last week’s devastating flooding. / AP Photo/Brennan Linsley
LONGMONT, Colo. State highway crews and National Guard troops worked furiously Sunday to repair highways to Colorado mountain towns cut off by unprecedented flooding.
Other teams were assessing how much damage needed to be repaired on Colorado’s eastern plains before trucks begin hauling in the fall harvest.
“They’re really humming,” said Jerre Stead, the corporate executive chosen by Gov. John Hickenlooper to oversee the state’s recovery from the catastrophic floods, which killed seven and wreaked havoc across 17 counties and 2,000 square miles.
Flash flooding swamps Colorado
Stead and Don Hunt, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, said they were optimistic they can meet a Dec. 1 target to complete temporary fixes to at least some roads, if more bad weather doesn’t interfere.
Quick repairs are critical because winter weather will make highway work more difficult and force the closure of the high-elevation Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, one of only two routes still open into Estes Park, a small town at the park’s east entrance.
Colorado flooding triggers oil spills
Also looming are the harvests from Colorado’s $8.5 billion-a-year agriculture industry, which relies on trucks to get cattle and crops to markets.
Officials said it’s too early to know how much time and money it will take to make permanent repairs, but they say it will cost more than $100 million.
Some 200 miles of state highways and 50 bridges were destroyed.
On Sunday, Stead and Hunt drove up flood-battered U.S. 36 northwest of Denver until they reached a point where floodwaters had obliterated the roadway. Then they got out and hiked.
Holding his hands about shoulder-width apart, Stead said, “You’re on paths this narrow where the roads used to be.”
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ABC NEWS
In Colo., Biden Vows Flood Relief Won’t Shut Down
Vice President Joe Biden is promising residents that aid for areas devastated by massive flooding in Colorado won’t stop even if the federal government shuts down.
“I promise you, I promise you, there will be help,” Biden said after flying by helicopter Monday over the Big Thompson River, and fields and reservoirs swollen with muddy brown water.
Biden stood with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and member of the state congressional delegation to tell Coloradans not to fear that budget problems in Washington could stall aid.
“It’s probably going to scare the living devil out of you,” Biden said about debt ceiling negotiations in Congress. Biden insisted the “dysfunction” in Washington won’t affect emergency spending.
“They will not shut down even if the Congress doesn’t fund the federal government,” Biden said, pointing to federal emergency relief workers behind him.
The death toll from Colorado’s flooding rose to eight Monday, when a 79-year-old woman whose house was swept away by the Big Thompson River was found dead on the riverbank.
The number of people unaccounted for dwindled to six. One other person was still missing and presumed dead — a 60-year-old woman from Larimer County. A man was taken off the list Monday after walking into the sheriff’s office.
The floods caused damage across nearly 2,000 square miles. Nearly 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed along with more than 200 miles of state highways and 50 state bridges.
The floods are also blamed for spills of about 27,000 gallons of oil in northern Colorado oilfields, including two mishaps found over the weekend, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said.
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