SITUATION REPORT 2006-16d

Colorado.gov

Previous SITREPs posted at: http://dola.colorado.gov/dem/operations/sitreps/sitreps.htm

Press Releases posted at: http://dola.colorado.gov/dem/Press/press_releases.htm

Report Date: 0700 hours, December 29, 2006

Event Type: Blizzard

Situation: CSP has confirmed one fatality in Kit Carson County as a result of the snowstorm. The accident was related to bad road conditions. A motorist was traveling west on I-70 at 40-50 mph last evening when he lost control and hit the victim, who was trying to load a car onto his tow truck (the accident occurred at 2230 hours).

Truck stops in Lamar and Springfield have 50 semi-trucks each at their facilities waiting for road conditions to improve. An unspecified, possibly larger number of trucks are holding at a truck stop in Cimarron, KS.

An estimated six (6) semi-trucks jack-knifed or were stuck on EB I-70 at Floyd Hill, creating lengthy back-ups of eastbound traffic and sending motorists into Idaho Springs until conditions improved. Shelter managers at Clear Creek Middle School reported approximately 200 were sheltered with another 45 are at the Georgetown shelter (Georgetown Community Center), approximately 100 at the McDonald’s in Idaho Springs, and an undetermined number at an Idaho Springs restaurant (King’s Derby). The Colorado National Guard delivered water, food and blankets to the two Clear Creek County shelters at 0405 hours at the request of Clear Creek County OEM.

Snow slide activity south of Ward (2049 hours) and at Eldora on Shelf Road (2132 hours) closed county roads in Boulder County. No vehicles or persons were caught in either slide. Power outages were reported in Lafayette, Louisville (2055 hrs.) and Erie (2105 hrs.) and Boulder County EOC reported that Excel Energy was not able to restore power until this morning. Eldora ski patrol checked the Shelf Road. It will be open this morning and the ski area will open. An additional snow slide has closed Four Mile Canyon Road at the 9 mile-mark and county plows will work on this morning. Evaluation of avalanche conditions in Boulder Canyon, Hwy 119: there is a slab with fracturing, but Boulder County believes that there is sufficient runout to allow highway to remain open.

Weld County reported that only primary routes were being plowed due to snow plows getting stuck on other routes (12-28-06, 2300 hours).

Due to the winter snowstorm, some flights operating to/from DIA between 6 a.m. - 12 p.m. on Friday, December 29, 2006 have been canceled. Frontier Airlines canceled about 60 of its flights on December 28 and an additional eight flights for the 29th. United Airlines has canceled some of its flights. DIA officials maintain that they will continue to work to accommodate air passengers and to get them to their destinations safely and as soon as possible.

Disaster Declarations:

State of Colorado
Adams County
Arvada (Snow Emergency Declaration)
Clear Creek County
Commerce City

Government Closures:

State of Colorado (non-essential employees)
Adams County
Arapahoe County
Aurora
Boulder City/County
Centennial
Douglas County
Greeley (non-essential employees)
Jefferson County
Lakewood
Larimer County
Park County
Parker
Wheat Ridge

The City of Westminster will be open on Friday, December 29th, on a regular work schedule. The City's Emergency Coordination Center will not activate at this time but will monitor snow conditions throughout the day to determine if activation will be necessary later.

Highway and Road Closures and Restrictions:

I-25 southbound from Lincoln Ave. to Monument (chain restrictions for commercial vehicles)
I-25 northbound from Colorado Springs to Monument Hill (chain restrictions for commercial vehicles)
US 6 Loveland Pass
US 85 from Ault to Wyoming State Line
State Highway 93 from State Highway 170 to State Highway 72 (fierce winds and drifting snow)
US 40 closed both directions from Kit Carson to Kansas State Line
US 160 closed both directions from Trinidad to Kansas State Line
US 385 closed both directions from Burlington to Cheyenne Wells
State Highway 59 closed both directions from Kit Carson to Kansas State Line
I-80 closed in both directions from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Laramie, Wyoming.

Shelters Open: (Total capacity stands at 780) Twenty shelters are open statewide, housing 622 people, with capacity to take in an additional 516 individuals. An updated list is maintained on WebEOC.

Weather Report: The metro area could get up to 8 inches of additional snowfall today on top of the 4 to 12 inches overnight accumulation around the area. The foothills west of Denver got over 2 feet of snow overnight, with Evergreen officially reporting 28 inches of new snow at around 12:30 a.m. More heavy snow is expected in the foothills today, where up to 20 inches of additional accumulation can be expected. The northeast plains are under a blizzard warning today. High winds, drifting snow and visibilities less than a quarter of a mile can be expected throughout the day. Daytime temperatures will only be in the mid 20s.

Agencies Involved: Adams County EOC, American Red Cross, Arapahoe County EOC, Arvada OEM, Brighton OEM, Broomfield EOC, Boulder EOC, Clear Creek EOC, Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Division of Emergency Management, Colorado Division of Fire Safety,

Colorado Springs EOC, Colorado State Patrol, Denver EOC, Douglas County EOC, El Paso Count y EOC, Elbert county EOC, Jefferson County EOC, Lakewood OEM, Salvation Army, Westminster OEM.

Misc. Information: CDOT has a website where they post the up-to-the-minute road conditions. http:// www.cotrip.org, the upper left hand field is Travel Information,select the 1st entry, “Road Conditions.” This page has a scroll down bar, Select a Report to View, which will give you a more customized report tailored to your Regions.

DEM Communications officer will be monitoring DTRS (800MHz) MAC 1 and MAC 21.

WebEOC information: http://www.dem.state.co.us/eoc6/ Incident name Winter Storm Dec 28.