- By
- DONNA BRYSON
- in Boulder, Colo., and
- ANN ZIMMERMAN
- in Dallas
The death toll rose to four on Friday, with the discovery of a flood victim outside Boulder. In addition, Boulder Sheriff's Commander Heidi Prentup said authorities cannot account for as many as 80 people, meaning friends and family members reported they can't reach them. Boulder Sheriff Joe Pelle noted that many cell towers are down, and added that he expects the number to rise before it starts to drop.
Sheriff Pelle called the scale of the disaster "unprecedented" and expressed concern about remote areas without sewer services, water, or electricity.
"We don't know about lives lost, homes lost, people stranded in many of our canyon communities," he said, saying that assessment could take days. "We have lost every roadway leading to the western end of our county."
Meanwhile, there was a 30% chance of showers along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains Friday night and Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The chance of rain increases to 60% Sunday. The rain isn't expected to be as heavy as it was last week, but with the ground saturated and creeks high, flash-flooding remains a potential problem.
On Friday, the National Guard began evacuating residents from Lyons, a town 17 miles to the north of Boulder. Northwest of the city, the 200 residents of Jamestown were being evacuated by helicopter because roads were impassable.
About 70 schoolchildren and 10 staff members from Denver and a Boulder County school had been on a sleep-away field trip at two adjoining mountain-nature centers. Authorities plan to helicopter them to Boulder, where parents can meet them. Sheriff Pelle said the students "are safe and there is a plan in the works to get them back to their parents."
Amid the disaster, sunny skies on Friday over water-logged Boulder gave residents a respite from the nearly 14 inches of rain that hit the city starting earlier in the week, according to the weather service.
Tim Kopper, a 21-year-old molecular biology student at the University of Colorado Boulder, ventured out to a creek-side park to view Boulder Creek, which had turned into a fast-moving river churning with mud.
ZUMA24.com