 |
|
|
|
| 2/11/2008 2:55:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Park County expected to declare state of emergency, Kenosha closes late Monday
Roughly 100 trapped citizens, shortage of local resources cited
Tom Locke
Flume Editor
At least one Park County commissioner has signed a resolution declaring a weather-related disaster and emergency situation in Park County, and the county's three commissioners are expected to meet Tuesday to ratify the resolution.
Adding insult to injury, U.S. 285 at Kenosha Pass was closed late Monday afternoon due to "adverse conditions," according to a 4:55 p.m. fax from the Colorado Department of Transportation. An e-mail from Mike Roll, fire chief of the North-West Fire Protection District, stated, "Due to current road closures Park County has opened a shelter for stranded travelers at the Fairplay Recreation Center."
Tighe signed the resolution declaring the state of emergency even though it won't be official until the commissioners ratify it on Tuesday. County attorney Lee Phillips said he advised Tighe to go ahead and sign it "to get the operations center up and running." The operations center is in the county commissioners' meeting room, and county employees have been recruited to act as dispatchers to receive calls.
Anyone needing help is instructed to call 719-836-4160, according to a press release from the county issued late Monday afternoon.
"DO NOT CALL 911 - The emergency dispatch staff has been inundated with calls delaying response time," says the press release.
Tighe said early Monday afternoon that he had just signed the resolution. "It will be ratified tomorrow in session," he said. That session of the county commissioners is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Early Monday afternoon, Tighe said he had not yet talked to the other two Park County Commissioners - Doc McKay and Leni Walker - about the resolution, but he felt confident they would support it.
"I believe we need to move this step forward," he said.
Linda Balough, a public information officer with Park County, said that about 100 people are believed to be trapped by the snow in Park County, with 50 of those being in the Hartsel area and 50 in the Jefferson-Como area. Some may have been stranded as long as five days, since last Wednesday, she said.
Also since last Wednesday, she said, the Park County Road and Bridge Department alone has hauled out 318 cars and trucks that were stuck.
Part of the resolution outlines the severe winter weather in January, including "heavy snowfall and wind in excess of 110 miles per hour," that has "significantly impacted Park County's resources."
The winds have closed roads and trapped citizens and "local resources cannot keep up with demand," states the resolution.
"The county has all its resources out working to maximum capacity. We are hoping to get more resources from neighboring counties to assist with both Search and Rescue as well as plowing," said an e-mail to The Flume from Roll, who is temporarily acting as a public information officer for the county.
A communication from the Park County Sheriff's Office mid-afternoon Monday stated the following:
"Park County has asked for assistance from other counties in getting several of our county roads open. We are currently working to open the following Park County Roads: County Rd. 15, County Rd. 5, County Rd. 24, County Rd. 34, County Rd. 23."
Tighe explained that the Park County Road and Bridge Department has mainly only been able to keep up with plowing primary roads, because the wind keeps coming back and causing drifts on those roads, and that has meant repetitive plowing of the same roads.
Balough said she knows that the department has gotten to some secondary roads because that's happened near her residence.
One big problem is private roads. "There are 1,000 miles of private roads in Park County, many of which have been blocked for several days," says the county's press release.
Balough said that some homeowners associations that have contracted to have their private roads plowed have run out of money this winter. In some circumstances, the contractor doesn't have the equipment necessary to handle the high drifts.
Indeed, even the county is having a tough time handling drifts that are 20 feet to 25 feet high, Balough said.
That's why it's hoping to get more equipment and better equipment from elsewhere by passage of the resolution. Extra manpower is needed too.
"The Road and Bridge guys are just worn out. Some of them have worked 20-hour days," Balough said.
El Paso County might be one source for help, but nothing is certain at this point, she said. Whether Park County might get any help from the state is also up in the air, according to Balough.
The press release states: "The Red Cross will be setting up shelter facilities in the South Park area in case of emergency need." In addition, volunteers with Park County Search and Rescue have been staged around the county to respond to emergencies.
The Flume received two calls Monday from stranded residents of the Santa Maria subdivision off of Elkhorn Road southeast of Como. One woman, who requested anonymity, said that she and her husband had been stranded for four days this week and four days last week, and they were only able to get out on Thursday because of some snow plowing that was performed by the county to rescue a cow.
Balough said that the area was plowed out, but then drifts caused people to be snowed in again. She did not know anything about plowing to rescue a single cow.
The Road and Bridge Department has responded to calls with a promise to get to Santa Maria when they could, said the woman, but no specific timeline was promised. She believes her road, Vista Grande Drive, might have been put on lower priority after "snow route" signs were removed from the road last summer.
Tighe said he didn't know about the signs, but their removal should not have affected the priority status of that road.
Another resident of the subdivision, Ken MacIver, complained that he had been stranded too. Citing the same cow story, he said that a cow seemed to have higher priority than residents.
Tighe said the county was indeed worried about trapped people who might be running low on propane, medicine or food.
He said he did not know at this time what kind of assistance the county might expect from the state or neighboring counties.
He noted that another two to seven inches of snow have been projected for the central Front Range Monday night, and there were high winds in South Park Monday. Local Road and Bridge crews have been working long hours, he said. "We need to keep them rested."
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
The Web Site contains material which is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. No material may be copied, reproduced, republished, broadcast or distributed in any way or decompiled, except that you may download one copy of the materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. On-line publication, Copyright 2008,
The Park County Republican & Fairplay Flume.
Office: 5138 County Road 64, Bailey, CO
Mailing address: P.O. Box 460, Bailey, CO, 80421-0460.
Phone: 303-838-4423 or Fax: 303-838-8414
Web page design, Copyright 2008, Arkansas Valley Publishing.
Software © 1998-2010 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
|
