Winter-weary Colorado Hit Again

Denver deals with third storm in three weeks, while 10,000 homes have no power in Kansas, Nebraska.

Sam West, 10, skis past an igloo in Longmont, Colo., on Friday, as a winter storm blanketed the area. Schools were closed for the day.

DENVER — The third snowstorm in as many weeks swept into Colorado on Friday, further hampering efforts to restore power to rural homes and rescue thousands of cattle stranded by last week’s blizzard.
Several school districts canceled classes Friday because of blowing snow in the region, where the last storm had whipped up 10-foot drifts and shut down highways.
In Kansas and Nebraska, about 10,000 homes were still without power after more than a week, and the new storm was headed their way after dumping nearly a foot of snow in the foothills west of Denver. In hard-hit southeastern Colorado, no more than 1 inch of new snow was expected, but the high wind was making road clearing difficult.
Agriculture officials, meanwhile, were still trying to figure out how deal with the carcasses of thousands of livestock that were killed by the blizzard or starved, said Jery Bailey, emergency management director in Haskell County, Kan.
“Our foremost thing is to try to save human lives, but now we have the economic thing too with feedlots and animals,” Bailey said. “This has been a nightmare.”
An estimated 3,500 cattle are believed to have died on rangeland in six southeastern Colorado counties alone, said Leonard Pruett, the region’s agriculture extension agent for Colorado State University.
Owners of feedlots, where range cattle are taken before slaughter, were still calculating their losses.
In a massive effort to save stranded rangeland cattle, the Colorado National Guard conducted a three-day airlift that dropped about 3,000 hay bales to herds spotted on the rangeland.
While that likely have saved livestock, the survivors still face the threat of fatal lung infections related to the stress of the storm and dehydration, Pruitt said.
The cold, windy conditions Friday could hurt early-season calves, as well, he said.
In a rare piece of good news, the snow was expected to help the winter wheat crop.
Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polonsky said the moisture will be “very beneficial to getting the crop off to a good start.”