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<br />A TWN. sua Report
<br />GLENWOOD SPRINGS - The city of
<br />Glenwood Spring. was digging out
<br />Tuesday from one of the worat natural
<br />dlsuter. in the city's hi!ll.ory -
<br />cauaed by rampaging mud flow, that
<br />len an ..Umat.ed $2 million in dam-
<br />age. &nd I.pen..a in their sloppy
<br />wake.
<br />The mud nOWI, which rumbled
<br />like riven down normally dry gulch.s
<br />on the .ide. of Lookout and Red
<br />Mounlaina Sunday evening, wet. let
<br />off by heavy rain. which dumped
<br />about. one inch of rain in leas than an
<br />bour. Nearly two inche. feU in the
<br />are. during the day.
<br />No ODe was injured.
<br />OIrmage, however, was wid.-
<br />lipread, and .ever. in two 10000tioDS In
<br />south G1enwood Spring.. where mud.
<br />rock., lte.. and other debris crashed
<br />through baaement windOws and gar-
<br />ap door.. cowring Ooor. with u
<br />much as five feet of residue.
<br />City police rtlported lome prob-
<br />.eme with ""Iwken" in the damaged
<br />areu, but there wer. no reporLa of
<br />looI.inc. even thouKh some families
<br />were forced to leave their house,
<br />during the height of the baLtering.
<br />Cleanup operationsliegac immed-
<br />iately after the ,tarm Nt early Sunday
<br />evening, and moat roadl - lame of
<br />which were conred by several feet of
<br />debri8 - bad been opened by early
<br />Monday morning. It. would be lever.1
<br />day., even week., before reator.tion
<br />. of. .om. houlMls would be complete.
<br />The riven of mud - three of them
<br />...t of tbt Roaring Fork River, two
<br />.maUe, ones on the west bank -
<br />bepn rumbling down the gullie.
<br />between 6:30 and 6 p.m., near the end
<br />or.lA.hinl, lhund.r.fill.d .lOrm lhll
<br />equalled the intensity of . tropical
<br />downpuur,
<br />As the rain lessened, several reI.
<br />idenLl who live high on the skirls of
<br />Lookout Mountain in southpast Glen.
<br />wood began hearing rumbling noises.
<br />Sheriff Ed Hogue. lookinlC up the
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<br />mountain from his residence near the
<br />river, saw a huge waU of mud, nowing
<br />down the red dirt mountainside like
<br />lavu from a volcano, It carried im.
<br />menae boulders" and lifted massive
<br />trees out of the ground,
<br />In the houle of Gnce and Larry
<br />Schick in the 21-hundred block of
<br />Bennett Ave., IS-year-old Debbie
<br />Schick looked out her back window
<br />and saw another waU of mud, almost
<br />on top of the house.
<br />She began IICreaming to her broth.
<br />er Bill, 17, who wae in the family',
<br />basement with a friend, Craig Stout.
<br />They grabbed their dog and several
<br />newborn puppiea and nn into the
<br />atreet where neighbQu, .ome of
<br />whom had heard Debbie Schick's
<br />screaml, were trying to move carl out
<br />of the path of the faIt-moving mud
<br />flow,
<br />Bill Schick moved one of his
<br />family's car., but within minutea the
<br />mud had lifted one car and depoaiitld
<br />itacro!f9 the Itreet, floorboard deep in
<br />mud, on the front dooraltop of Glen.
<br />wood Post Publisher Tom Collinson.
<br />The block be~ween 21st and 22nd
<br />on Bennett~~ tI1e heavie,t hit, but
<br />damage did nol. p\op there.
<br />It filltrd up ~~ s-.root-deep sun"en
<br />patio. It bro"e "gar~n-levt!1 windows
<br />end poured inexorflbly, into bmse.
<br />ments, sucking up ~ooks, recorua.
<br />toys and other belongings, destroying
<br />wuher!l, dryers, pool tables, furniture
<br />and Cllrpeting and drapea. ,~
<br />It lilted a food.filled (ree~r Irom
<br />the gmrage of 8(hool superintendant
<br />Nick Massaro at 26th ltnd 8Ibk~_apd
<br />moved it into the front Ylird. h ruin~
<br />!lcore~ 01 lawn., buried driveway.,'
<br />twisted patio furniture and buried'
<br />.winK lilLi,
<br />Most houaes were not covered by
<br />insuflnce for mud or flood dllmuge.
<br />When it reached storm drllins. the
<br />oozing mud invaded the city's sewer
<br />aYlllf.f>m, eventually plugging up the
<br />63.000 gallon primary sewlt~e clarifier
<br />H't" .r)
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