Crews clean up Glenwood Canyon mudslides, but more rainfall in this week’s forecast
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
Cleanup of a mudslide that forced the closure of Interstate 70 from Dotsero to Rifle wrapped up Monday evening, more than 24 hours after the debris went across the highway.
Colorado Department of Transportation crews reopened the eastbound lanes around 3 p.m. Monday, and then westbound lanes opened three hours later. A mudslide about 5 p.m. Sunday closed the canyon, which also shut down Saturday because of debris flows onto the interstate.
The rainfall event that occurred over Grizzly Creek Fire burn scar dropped about a half-inch of rain over the course of 35 minutes Sunday afternoon, according Tom Renwick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
Renwick said rain is expected to fall in the Glenwood Springs area throughout the week, though the exact locations are unknown.
-
One of the multiple mud and debris slides on the westbound deck of Interstate 70 at MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
A Colorado Department of Transportation Hydrologist walks down the closed westbound lanes of Interstate 70 on Monday after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Multiple feet of mud sits on the shoulder of the eastbound deck of Interstate 70 at MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
CDOT crews make progress cleaning up the lower eastbound decks of Interstate 70 on Monday near MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Mud sits in the median of Interstate 70 near MM 120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Multiple feet of mud sits on the shoulder of the westbound deck of Interstate 70 at MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
One of the multiple mud and debris slides on the westbound deck of Interstate 70 near MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Mud and debris covers the guardrail along the lower eastbound decks of Interstate 70 in Glenwood canyon after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Crews make progress cleaning up the lower eastbound decks of Interstate 70 near MM120 after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
-
Mud seeps into the Colorado River after a mudslide swept down the cliffs in Glenwood Canyon in the area of the Grizzly Creek burn scar on Sunday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
“With the amount of moisture coming up, we’re looking at a prolonged period of this happening each and every evening,” Renwick said of the week’s forecast.
“Unless things change drastically, these moistures will come up, and stay in the atmosphere, with daytime heating we’ll just get more showers.”
Renwick said the amount of rainfall that caused the mudslide wasn’t significant.
“Over a burn scar, we don’t need much for things to get going,” he added.
Rain on Saturday also caused debris slides in the burn area and closed the interstate Saturday afternoon, but it reopened late Saturday night.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
Fred Cummings, a maintenance foreman for CDOT, said Monday’s cleanup crew consisted of 24 workers, of which eight manned the closures,12 operated trucks, three operated loaders and one operated an excavator.
The canyon closure sent motorists scrambling for detours, and Cottonwood Pass outside of Gypsum to the Roaring Fork Valley as well as Independence Pass east of Aspen to Twin Lakes were closed for a time Monday afternoon because of a traffic accident and a stuck vehicle, respectively.
A number of rafters were on the Colorado River and in the area of the mudslides when they were reported Sunday, said Phoebe Larsson, owner of Whitewater Rafting LLC.
“The river is actually the safest place to be during a mudslide,” Larsson said. “So we weren’t concerned about their safety, but we do have some vehicles trapped at Grizzly Creek that we can’t get to until closures wrap up.”
Larsson said CDOT has been great with communicating to outfitting groups to alert them of closures.
“We just follow protocols and the flood warnings,” Larsson said. “We’re looking at a summer that’s lower in precipitation, so we’re hoping that this is a unique event that doesn’t happen a lot this summer.”
Larsson said that when the canyon is closed, rafters still have other river options to choose from, including the Roaring Fork River and the lower Colorado River.
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.