By P. SOLOMON BANDA & JERI CLAUSING Associated Press on Sep 17, 2013, at 2:31 AM Updated on 9/17/13 at 6:18 AM
HYGIENE, Colo. - Weary Colorado evacuees began returning home after days of rain and flooding, but Monday's clearing skies and receding waters revealed only more heartbreak: toppled houses, upended vehicles and a stinking layer of muck covering everything.
Rescuers grounded by weekend rains took advantage of the break in the weather to resume searches for people still stranded, with 21 helicopters fanning out over the mountainsides and the plains to drop supplies and airlift those who need help.
The number of dead and missing people was difficult to pinpoint. State emergency officials reported the death toll at eight Monday, but local officials were still investigating the circumstances of two of the fatalities.
Two of the eight fatalities were women missing and presumed dead.
The number of missing people was dropping as the state's count fell Monday from just over 1,200 to about half that. State officials hoped the overall number would continue to drop with rescuers reaching more people and phone service being restored.
"You've got to remember, a lot of these folks lost cellphones, landlines, the Internet four to five days ago," Gov. John Hickenlooper said on NBC's "Today" show. "I am very hopeful that the vast majority of these people are safe and sound."
Residents of Hygiene returned to their small community east of the foothills to find mud blanketing roads, garages, even the tops of fence posts. The raging St. Vrain River they fled three days earlier had left trucks in ditches and carried items as far as two miles downstream.
"My own slice of heaven, and it's gone," Bill Marquedt said after finding his home destroyed.
The town of Lyons was almost completely abandoned. Emergency crews had given the few remaining residents, mostly wandering Main Street looking for status updates, a final warning to leave Sunday.
Most of the town's trailer parks were destroyed.
Helicopters had evacuated more than 100 stranded residents in Larimer County by midafternoon Monday, officials said.
Once the evacuations are complete, officials said it could take weeks or even months to search through flood-ravaged areas looking for people who died.
In the mountain towns, major roads were washed away or covered by mud and rock slides. Hamlets like Glen Haven were reduced to debris and key infrastructure like gas lines and sewers systems were destroyed.
Hundreds of homes around Estes Park, next to Rocky Mountain National Park, could be uninhabitable for up to a year, town administrator Frank Lancaster said.
Original Print Headline: Colorado rain, floods ease
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