Teller County continues cleanup of rural areas buried by several feet of snow
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Clean up from last week's Spring Snowstorm continues in rural Teller County.
Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell tells KRDO13 that several of the county's plows had breakdowns and slid off the road while fighting the multiple feet of snow that fell last week. It even left one snow vehicle stuck in an avalanche, which led to a search and rescue operation.
It was those conditions that led to the Teller County Commissioner's making an emergency declaration and now allowing private contractors to come in and help with the snow removal. They're still working on freeing up side roads and subdivisions within the county several days after the storm.
Some residents in the county say they had up to six feet of snow, while Sheriff Mikesell explains other areas had snow drifts that left mounds of eight or even 10 feet, which posed serious problems for their equipment.
The Sheriff also commended the work of those plow drivers, who he says worked upwards of 80 hours in just four days through the storm and the weekend.
But, following the damages to snow removal equipment and emergency vehicles, the county is hoping that they'll get some help in the form of state funds through the emergency declaration.
"The cost of new transmissions or new clutches in these vehicles, that that's a big deal when you when you're talking about a big truck and very expensive systems," explained Miksell. "The other side of it is the amount of overtime hours for dispatchers, and for deputies, and for plow drivers, and for all the emergency first responders and then ambulances that were getting stuck or broken," he said.
Mikesell adds that if you're a business owner or rancher who has incurred damages or costs from this storm, you should contact the county's office of emergency management, which is taking inventory of what can potentially see assistance from state funds during this emergency declaration.
