First responders in Colorado came to the rescue of over 20 people Friday who were trapped in a mountain tunnel following a mudslides that shut down parts of Interstate 70.
The Rescue
Debris flows obstructed portions of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon after the Thursday rain made rocks and mud flow through the region of Grizzly Creek Fire burn scar, as per a report from the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
The motorists spent a night at Hanging Lake's tunnel, close to Glenwood Springs town around 150 miles west of Denver.
Sheriff's office personnel, and also Glenwood Canyon Fire, the Colorado Department of Transportation and a vehicle, started their journey to get to them around 10 p.m. Thursday. 8.5 hours later they got to the scene.
Walt Stowe, sheriff's spokesman told weather.com in an online interview Friday: "They had to dig through two different debris piles. They got the people out of the tunnel." Some rode their personal cars out and the remaining took the bus. Everyone was safely conveyed to a non-permanent shield at the Glenwood Recreation Center.
Hanging Lake's Tunnel
Stowe said Hanging Lake's tunnel is an abode to a fire station that's worked 24 hours a day. He said people were kind of comfortable, as much as one can be in a tunnel. CDOT was still making effort to save people trapped in cars on other parts of the road.
It wasn't certain if those people were stuck in debris flow, but Matt Inzeo, CDOT spokesman revealed to Colorado Public Radio that there was no report of a missing or injured person.
By Friday afternoon, a sum of 108 people who were trapped in 29 vehicles were taken away from the canyon, KOAA-TV reported. Mentioning the DOT, a meteorologist for the station said that was responsible for everyone who had been stuck on the road.
Some regions of debris flow could be spotted on CDOT traffic cameras Friday afternoon, but it appeared like there were no cars or people close to them.
Threat of Flooding
CPR reported that at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, the road was initially shut down because of the threat of flooding from torrential rainfall, but the road was opened again and then shut down again around 9 p.m. It stayed shut Friday afternoon in the two directions from mile marker 87 to mile marker 133. Temporary routes were in place.
In the past three days, over 3 inches of rain have been witnessed in the region. Mudslides in the burn scar region have blocked I-70 in Glenwood Canyon several other occasions this summer.
On the 10th of August 2020, the Grizzly Creek Fire began and blazed through around 51 square miles of land in the Glenwood Springs region. The fire closed I-70 for two weeks.
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