Search and rescue crews are looking for three men who have been missing since a 6km-long mudslide swept into a remote area near the Grand Mesa National Forest in western Colorado.
Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said he viewed the area by helicopter and that the slide’s debris field of timber, mud, snow and dirt was unstable, hampering rescue efforts.
The missing men went to the area on Sunday morning to investigate damage to irrigation canals by a rockside earlier in the day, when a large slide hit.
The three men – a county public works employee, his son and a third man – have not been heard from since.
The slide tore through an area outside the mountain community of Collbran, which is home to 700 people and located 321km west of Denver.
The disaster area, estimated to be 3.2km wide and 76 metres deep in places, was described by those at the scene as very unstable.
The mudslide occurred after nearly a week of heavy rain.
The sheriff said the search for the missing men will include unmanned drone aircraft with heat-seeking equipment.
He added that a hydrologist with the National Weather Service and a geologist with the US Geological Survey will view the site by air to determine which areas may be safe enough for ground crews to enter.
Mesa County officials have contacted authorities in Snohomish County, Washington, where at least 42 people were killed in a mudslide two months ago and received information from them on how to undertake the search.
