- DENVER (AP) - Denver's worst
blizzard in 90 years shut down the city for a second day and closed one
of the nation's busiest airports, stranding thousands of passengers and
ripping the terminal's tent-like roof. Even letter carriers stayed home.
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- The storm dumped up to 7 feet of wet, heavy snow in the
mountains and paralyzed a large swath of Colorado and Wyoming that is home
to more than 3.5 million people. It forced officials to close parts of
Interstates 70, 80 and 25, and National Guard troops were sent to rescue
stranded motorists.
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- The storm, which lumbered into Colorado with rain turning
to snow Monday and Tuesday, was heading slowly east and expected to taper
off later Wednesday. A blizzard warning remained in effect from the Colorado-Wyoming
line to New Mexico.
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- The snow was blamed for at least one traffic death in
Wyoming, where Interstates 25 and 80 remained closed, isolating Cheyenne
and other communities. Interstate 70 remained closed from the Rockies almost
to the Kansas line.
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- Around the region, gusts whipped snow into drifts that
blocked streets and driveways, turning abandoned cars and trucks into marshmallowy
mounds.
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- Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick did not even try to
get to work from his home on the prairie about 15 miles east of town.
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- "I can walk on top of my barn," he said. Stranded
inside were chickens, geese - and the heavy equipment he needed to dig
through the 9-foot drifts.
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- Instead, he turned to an old-fashioned method. "It's
called a shovel," he said.
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- The Colorado National Guard sent 21 Humvees to rescue
stranded motorists. In some cities, police ticketed drivers who didn't
have a good reason to be out.
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- Denver security manager Keith Moore waited two hours
for a bus that never showed up, finally catching a ride with a snowplow
driver. "It was great," Moore said. "I got to smoke and
everything."
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- Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., was stranded near the Denver
airport but found the storm's silver lining: "We've had such a terrible
drought, and this will help with our water situation."
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- Both states needed the moisture after months of drought
conditions.
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- Travelers filled up motels along the closed interstates,
and hundreds of truck drivers slept in their rigs.
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- Denver received 29.5 inches since Monday, the largest
amount since December 1913, when 45.7 inches fell, according to the National
Weather Service.
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- In the mountains west of the city, wind swept 6-foot
snow accumulations into 8-foot drifts. The American Red Cross turned four
public buildings into shelters for 350 motorists in Idaho Springs, 35 miles
west of Denver.
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- Mary Ning's car was stuck in more than 4 feet of snow
in Evergreen, in the foothills about 25 miles west of Denver. Residents
pooled food and spent hours shoveling, she said. "We got to know our
neighbors," she said.
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- Almost 1 1/2 feet of wet, heavy flakes fell Wednesday
at Denver International Airport and drifted to 4 feet. About 3,700 travelers
who spent the night sleeping on the floor, couches and cots were moved
to a separate concourse as a precaution after the tear several hundred
feet long was discovered in the Teflon-coated, Fiberglas roof of the main
terminal.
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- "This is a record-breaking storm that now is a roof
breaker," said assistant airport manager Amy Bourgeron. Passengers
were allowed into the terminal after the company that manufactured the
material inspected the tear and determined it was safe.
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- Among the travelers stuck there was the University of
Vermont men's basketball team, headed to Salt Lake City for its first-ever
NCAA tournament. They were slated to play Arizona on Thursday.
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- At least 200 people were stranded at the Greyhound bus
station in downtown Denver. Roofs collapsed on at least 100 homes and businesses
in Denver, including a downtown nightclub and a 25,000-square-foot warehouse
in northeast Denver, fire officials said.
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- The storm brought back memories of the December 1982
blizzard, which dropped 2 feet of snow on Denver in 24 hours, making major
streets impassable for several days.
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- The Colorado Legislature canceled its session Wednesday,
and most other government offices and businesses - including post offices
- were also closed.
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- The 16 inches of snow that fell on the Cheyenne airport
Tuesday broke a single-day record for that date; the previous record of
11.5 inches dated to 1979.
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- The blizzard was too much even for some ski resorts.
At Eldora, a small resort 21 miles west of Boulder, an avalanche Tuesday
closed the only road and forced about 250 people into a giant sleepover.
Though rescuers weren't expected until Thursday, the resort's restaurants
were keeping everyone fed.
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- "People are camped out on the floor, making themselves
at home," Eldora marketing director Rob Linde said by telephone.
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