Colorado flood damage assessment begins
By P. SOLOMON BANDA & BEN NEARY Associated Press on Sep 18, 2013, at 2:28 AM Updated on 9/18/13 at 5:07 AM
Kathryn Reeves, 32, tows an inflatable boat full of family possessions from her godparents' flooded trailer in Evans, Colo., on Tuesday. Evacuees are returning to their ravaged communities and many are finding that their belongings have been destroyed. CHRIS SCHNEIDER / Associated Press
US & World
Emergency flights began arriving in Acapulco on Tuesday to evacuate some of the thousands of tourists stranded by flooding and landslides that shut down the highway to Mexico City and swamped the international airport.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a new trial for five former New Orleans police officers convicted of civil rights violations stemming from deadly shootings on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina, concluding the case had been tainted by "grotesque prosecutorial misconduct."
The emergency airlifts of flood victims waned Tuesday, leaving rescue crews to search the nooks and crannies of the northern Colorado foothills and transportation officials to gauge what it will take to rebuild the wasted landscape.
More than 3,000 people have been evacuated by air and ground since last week's devastating floods, but calls for those emergency rescues are dwindling, federal and state officials said.
Military crews have met to identify new areas to check and places to cover again with hundreds of people still considered missing.
"They've kind of transitioned from that initial response to going into more of a grid search," Colorado National Guard Lt. Skye Robinson said.
In one of those searches Tuesday, Sgt. 1st Class Keith Bart and Staff Sgt. Jose Pantoja leaned out the window of a Blackhawk, giving the thumbs-up sign to people on the ground while flying outside of Jamestown.
Most waved back and continued shoveling debris. Then Bart spotted two women waving scarves, and the helicopter descended.
Pantoja clipped his harness to the helicopter's wench and was lowered to the ground. He clipped the women in, who laughed as they were hoisted aboard.
After dropping the women off at the Boulder airport, the Blackhawk was back in the air less than a minute later to resume the search.
The state's latest count has dropped to about 580 people missing, and the number continues to decrease as the stranded get in touch with families.
State officials reported eight flood-related deaths - including two women missing and presumed dead - and the number was expected to increase. It could take weeks to search through flooded areas looking for people who died.
With the airlifts tapering, state and local transportation officials are tallying the washed-out roads, collapsed bridges and twisted railroad lines. The rebuilding effort will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take months, if not years.
Initial assessments have begun trickling in, but many areas remain inaccessible and conditions prevent a thorough understanding of the devastation's scope.
Original Print Headline: Damage assessment begins
US & World
Emergency flights began arriving in Acapulco on Tuesday to evacuate some of the thousands of tourists stranded by flooding and landslides that shut down the highway to Mexico City and swamped the international airport.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a new trial for five former New Orleans police officers convicted of civil rights violations stemming from deadly shootings on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina, concluding the case had been tainted by "grotesque prosecutorial misconduct."
