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<br />4 The Aspen Tmres . Thursday, July 24, 1997 <br /> <br />Mudslides kill <br />one, delay traffic <br /> <br />Aspen Times Sluff Report <br />Mother Nature performed an <br />abrupt about-face Wednesday <br />afternoon when wildfire danger <br />turned into a tlashtlood and mud- <br />slide threat. <br />A quick-moving mid-after- <br />noon storm apparently dumped a <br />tremendous amount of rain just <br />west of Carbondale and produced <br />a fatal muds Ii de near Silt. One <br />man was reportedly killed when <br />his car was swept off a county <br />road outside of Silt. <br />In the Roaring Fork Valley, the <br />storm produced more of an incon- <br />venience than a danger. Mud- <br />slides covered the westbound <br />lanes of Highway 82 for about a 2 <br />1/2 mile stretch starting one-half <br />mile west of Carbondale. <br />Water appeared to run off the <br />steep slopes across the highway <br /> <br />from Satank below the Mush- <br />room Rock portion of Red Hill. <br />Mud, water and debris also <br />spilled onto the westbound lanes <br />farther to the west. <br />Both westbound lanes were <br />shut down for a short time <br />around 4:30 p.m. as a plow <br />pushed mud off the highway, <br />according to one traveler. Traffic <br />appeared at a standstill for a <br />while and was backed up to the <br />Planted Earth nursery. <br />Crews from the Colorado <br />Department of Transportation <br />and Garfield County scrambled <br />to clear the muck. Garfield Coun- <br />ty Road and Bridge Department <br />was also attending to problems <br />on roads in the Thompson Creek <br />area and County Road 109, on <br />the opposite side of Aspen Glen <br />from the highway. <br />