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. In a Colorado Springs creek Monday, authorities recovered the body of a man but can't say yet if the death is related to recent flooding. And in Idaho Springs, an 83-year-old man died Monday afternoon when the ground he was standing on gave way and he was swept away by Clear Creek, according to The Denver Post.
A woman is helped off of a military helicopter at the Boulder Municipal Airport in Boulder, Colo., on on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, after being rescued. Thousands of people remained stranded by high water and washed out roads in the state. - See more at:
APTOPIX Colorado Flooding | CNS News
Two of the eight fatalities are 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 2 miles downstream. "My own slice of heaven, and it's gone," Bill Marquedt said after finding his home destroyed.
Residents immediately set to sweeping, shoveling and rinsing, but the task of rebuilding seemed overwhelming to some. "What now? We don't even know where to start," said Genevieve Marquez. "It's not even like a day by day or a month thing. "I want to think that far ahead but it's a minute by minute thing at this point. And, I guess now it's just help everyone out and try to get our lives back," she added.
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Colorado evacuees return to find more heartbreak | CNS News