Colorado avalanches destroy homes, prompt evacuations

Miles Blumhardt
The Coloradoan
This photo shows where a house was flattened by an avalanche outside of Lake City on Tuesday morning.

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An avalanche Wednesday morning damaged two homes near Lake City in south-central Colorado and resulted in five people being rescued, according to Hinsdale County officials.

No injuries were reported.

A Tuesday morning avalanche also outside of Lake City completely destroyed a home. Three residents were rescued from the home and taken to a medical facility. The severity of the injuries has not been released.

The area is under voluntary evacuation.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued an avalanche warning Wednesday morning for a large swath of the mountains, including the Cameron Pass area and Rocky Mountain National Park west of Fort Collins, and areas already experiencing historic avalanches.

Wednesday also brought a National Weather Service-issued winter storm warning to the mountains, with snow of a foot or more and winds gusting to 50 mph piling on the already hazardous conditions.  

Avalanche warning

The four rating out of five from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center means deadly avalanches are likely and backcountry travel is not advised. The warning goes until 8 a.m. Thursday.

The areas under the warning include the Interstate 70 corridor, which has been covered by natural and Colorado Department of Transportation-triggered avalanches over the last 10 days. It also includes the San Juan Mountains and U.S. Highway 550, which remains closed due to avalanches covering the highway with more than 60 feet of snow and debris.

Wednesday's storm is the latest in a series of storms that have blasted Colorado's mountains and produced more than 500 avalanches in March. 

There have been eight avalanche deaths reported in Colorado as of Monday, two above the seasonal average and the most in five years. The latest fatality occurred Saturday when a Crested Butte man was killed when snow avalanched off a roof and suffocated him.

Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life — be it news, outdoors, sports, you name it he wants to report it. Have a story idea, send it his way. Email him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or find him on Twitter at @MilesBlumhardt. If you find value in these stories, support Miles and the other journalists at the Coloradoan by subscribing atColoradoan.com/subscribe