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<br />e <br /> <br />Rains send mud, rocks <br />down denuded areas <br /> <br />Lightning shakes up Flatirons hikers, slows DIA <br /> <br />:U~:~t.':'~n 'Rock and debris - <br />De"e<POslSlaffW';!e.. the whole road up <br />Heavy rain. lightning and mudslides <br />struck parts of Colorado on Monday. there was unusable' <br />causing traffic problems, evacuations . <br />in West Glenwood Springs and shaking Mary Anderson <br />up a couple of hikers. <br />More than 150 families threatened Glenwood Springs resident <br />by mudslides were evacuated Monday <br />night from the Mitchell Creek area in <br />West G1enwood and from the Red <br />Mountain area, both under steep <br />slopes that were hit by the Coal Seam <br />fire. <br />Mud from Red Mountain washed <br />down onto the railroad tracks, hitting <br />a freight train. <br />No injuries were reported, but the <br />tracks were closed. <br />Mary Anderson was house-sitting at <br />her boss' home along Mitchell Creek <br />when rain fell in torrents for about 15 <br />minutes. <br />"Rock and debris - the whole road <br />up there was unusable." she said. She <br />fled from the home, but rocks were <br />blocking her car. She stood knee-deep <br />in mud and finally got a ride from a <br />fire truck. <br />Mud also oozed down the mountain- <br />side and across U.S. 285 just south of <br />Bailey, west of Pine Junction, closing <br />the highway for about an hour Monday <br />afternoon, authorities said. <br />Earlier in the day, two hikers in the <br />Flatirons south of Boulder were <br />knocked over when lightning struck <br />just feet away. sending one of them to <br />the hospital. <br />Derek Mihm, 30. and Katherine De- <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />vendorf, 25, sought shelter when the <br />storm hit, according to Dave Booton, <br />spokesman for the Boulder County <br />Sheriffs Office. <br />"They hunkered down in a little <br />cave, and lightning hit somewhere in <br />the area," he said. "It wasn't a direct <br />hit.1t . <br />The strike knocked both hikers to <br />the ground. Mihm told rescuers his <br />body turned numb, and Devendorf <br />briefly lost consciousness. <br />When she awoke, she was confused, <br />nauseous and "couldn't remember who <br />she was." Booton said. After a few <br />minutes, she began to feel better, he <br />said. <br />Mihm used his ceJlphone to call 911, <br />and rescuers brought Devendorf out on <br />a stretcher. She was taken to Boulder <br />Community Hospital and laler released. <br />A total of 2.36 inches of rain was <br />recorded Monday afternoon at Denver <br />International Airport. Airlines pulled <br />their ramp crews inside because of <br />nearby lightning, delaying flights that <br />were pulling away from the con. <br />courses, according to spokesman <br />Chuck Cannon. <br />Downtown Denver reported <br />0.12 inch of rain Monday. <br />