THE FINAL SIX people missing after last week’s flooding in Colorado have all been found safe and well.
Only one person remained missing and presumed dead and eight deaths have been confirmed thus far.
In what was a remarkable outcome after a disaster that damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 homes, washed out hundreds of miles of roads and left many small mountain towns completely cut off, the death toll remained in single figures.
In the days after the flooding, some 1,200 people were unaccounted for.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said three new spills totaling at least 7,600 gallons had been discovered as flood waters recede.
Regulators are now tracking 11 notable leaks totaling at least 34,500 barrels, mostly from storage tanks that toppled or otherwise failed.
The flooding is making it difficult to assess the damage properly.
National Guard helicopters have airlifted more than 3,000 people and nearly 900 pets to safety.
“We are really happy that we were able to clear all the missing folks,” Larimer County sheriff’s spokesman John Schulz said, adding that deputies were saddened by the deaths.
The woman who is missing and presumed dead is 60 and lived in hard-hit Big Thompson Canyon.
Schulz said eyewitnesses saw the woman in the water, and searchers have found no trace of her.
No official estimate has been released on the cost of the floods, which wiped out 200 miles of state roads and 50 state bridges.
State transportation officials say the road damage will top $100 million.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it had approved $22.1 million in individual assistance, most of it to help people to repair homes or find temporarily rentals. More than 15,600 people have applied for FEMA relief.
Vice President Joe Biden flew over some of the damage Monday and promised that federal aid won’t stop even if a possible shutdown of the federal government occurs.
AP provided reporting.
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