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 The slide tore through an area outside the mountain community of
Collbran, which has a population of about 700 people and is located
200 miles (320 km) west of Denver, said Heather Benjamin,
spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
Three people were missing in the incident and the sheriff's office
on Monday identified them only as three men. Further details were
expected to be released at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
The disaster area was estimated to be about two miles (3 km) wide
and about 250 feet (75 meters) deep in places and was described by
deputies on the scene being very unstable, the sheriff's office
said.
A witness described hearing a sound similar to that of a freight
train, which was attributed to the slide, the office said.
An entire ridge was believed to have been sliding for most of the
day after nearly a week of rain that has soaked large swaths of the
Rocky Mountain state.
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The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado, issued an
advisory this month warning that monsoon rains, which caused
flooding in the state last September, could increase the possibility
of landslides as the state's deep snowpack melts.
A mudslide two months ago buried much of a community in the Cascade
foothills of Washington state, killing more than 40 people. County
officials said on Thursday that a 42nd set of remains had been
recovered from the rubble.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg; and Peter Galloway)
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