MONDAY UPDATE FROM DENVERPOST.COM
Eastbound I-70 is still closed between E-470 and the Kansas state line. Westbound I-70 is closed from Limon to the Kansas state line. 9News meteorologist Nick O’Kelly predicts it will be this evening before the highway can reopen.
A blinding blizzard caused a pileup of at least 20 cars and shut down at least 165 miles of Interstate 70 east of Denver on Sunday, forcing travelers to scramble for shelter on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Major highways leading into and out of Colorado from the east and southeast were shut down – including I-70 from Limon to Oakley, Kan. – as a blistering wind caused whiteout conditions.
“The snow is coming in horizontal,” said Jamie Taylor, manager of The Route restaurant in Burlington. “We couldn’t see the hotel across the street.”
Taylor said her restaurant was slammed with stranded drivers who either pulled off the road fearing icy conditions or were forced to stop when the highway shut.
“The weather is very dangerous out there,” said Fred Spasser, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service office across the border in Goodland, Kan. “One of our forecasters had a tough time getting to work from just a mile away.”
Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said at least 20 cars were in a chain-reaction crash on I-70 about 50 miles east of Limon. Trooper Eric Wynn of the State Patrol said that it was not clear how many cars were involved but that vehicles had run off the road up and down the highway.
“We’re just going from crash to crash to crash,” he said. “Obviously, if there are people stranded, we’re trying to get them shelter.”
Only a couple of inches of snow fell, but Spasser said high winds blasted the area and caused the severe conditions.
“I’ve never been in a storm with this kind of wind,” said University of Colorado law student Chris Wilson, who was stranded in Goodland on the way back from visiting family in central Kansas. “There was nothing, and then, all the sudden, it was a blizzard.”
Gas-stop towns along the highway were inundated with stranded drivers who overwhelmed local hotels and spilled into churches, high schools and gymnasiums. In Burlington, the Pizza Hut ran out of beer glasses. Sleeping bags at the Alco were all sold by 4 p.m.
“We’re feeding them and letting them stay here as long as they want,” said Jay Zimbelman with First Christian Church in Burlington. “I’ve been out there all day, and I wouldn’t want to be driving in that.”
On the other side of the state, heavy snow accumulations put mountain communities on accident alert and forced traffic to a crawl early in the day.
But while drivers in the eastern and western parts of the state were bogged down by winter weather, the nearly 160,000 travelers at Denver International Airport saw nary a drizzle.
Passengers moved through smoothly, considering that officials said Sunday ranked among the top five busiest days in the airport’s history.
“The line (for security) looked long and intimidating when we got here,” said Scott Heuler, who was heading back to Tampa, Fla., with his wife and three children after a week in Winter Park. “But it cleared right up.”
CDOT spokeswoman Stegman said that for those on the highway, it’s just a waiting game to see when travel will resume.
“The wind is the biggest problem,” she said. “Until that stops, we just don’t know.”
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 720-929-0893 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
