DENVER—Hundreds of stranded travelers resumed their journeys Saturday after spending the night at shelters when a powerful spring storm walloped the Rocky Mountains and foothills west of Denver with more than 3 feet of snow.
Officials reopened an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 70 between Golden and Vail that had been closed Friday, producing a surge of traffic that gradually eased by late Saturday, said Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Bob Wilson.
Wilson warned drivers to expect sloppy road conditions. “It’s not the I-70 you know in a June afternoon,” he said.
Storm warnings were dropped as the bulk of the storm moved east into Kansas, and utility crews labored to restore power to thousands of homes. The heavy snow weighed down power lines and tripped system circuit breakers.
Some 9,400 homes and businesses were without power in the mountain town of Evergreen, 25 miles west of Denver, where 29 inches of snow fell and traffic inched along snowpacked roads. Xcel Energy spokesman Joe Fuentes said 1,600 homes in Denver and 4,300 homes in Boulder also lacked electricity. Piles of snow and closed roads were preventing crews from reaching some areas, Fuentes said, adding they hoped to restored power by 11 a.m. Sunday.
About 3 to 10 inches fell in Denver, but the heaviest of Friday’s snow dropped on the foothills west of here, with 52 inches at Pinecliffe and 36 at Black Hawk, said National Weather Service meteorologist Carl Burroughs.
April is one of the third snowiest month in Colorado, behind March and November, Burroughs said.
Some airlines canceled or delayed flights at Denver International Airport even as snow turned to rain Saturday, and travelers were urged to check on their flights before leaving home.
United Airlines, the dominant carrier at DIA, canceled 76 flights Friday, 14 on Saturday and delayed several others, said spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.
Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Lindsey Purves said travelers should expect delays but that the airline is trying to run its full schedule.
“All in all, the message is we’re pretty much running our full operation here,” she said.
The snow prompted the closure of I-70 between Vail and Golden, and more than 500 people spent the night at American Red Cross shelters in Idaho Springs and Georgetown. The National Guard delivered two truckloads of cots, blankets and food.
About 90 travelers stayed at an elementary school in Idaho Springs, and shelter manager Linda Broom said they came from all parts of the country—including Alaska, Utah and Washington, D.C.
“They were really most appreciative and in good spirits because it was pretty late and they had been sitting in traffic, they slept well,” Broom said. “One slept extremely well, as we could all hear.”
The shelters shut down Saturday.
The storm triggered numerous traffic accidents across Colorado. One person was killed Friday in a two-vehicle crash on Colorado 52 in Weld County, near Fort Lupton, said Colorado State Patrol spokesman Gilbert Mares. Details on the victim were not immediately available.
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