4 Dead, 80 Missing After Colorado Floods

National Guard members help residents evacuate.

Four people are dead and eighty more are missing after Colorado's floods. Two of the deaths and all of the missing are from Boulder County. Governor Hickenlooper declared Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Boulder, Denver, El Paso, Fremont, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Pueblo, Washington, and Weld Counties to be disaster areas.

As the weather cleared helicopters were able to take off, Friday morning, and assess the damage. However some areas are seeing more rain on Friday evening, with more possible on Saturday. The record rain fall could leave some areas under water for at least a week.

Lyons, Colorado on Friday

Members of the National Guard spent Friday morning evacuating Lyon's entire population of two thousand. The town was completely surrounded by water, which knocked out phones and electrical service and contaminated water supplies. Access to the town was only possible with high clearance National Guard trucks. Five hundred people from Eldorado Springs were also evacuated by the Guard. Allenspark and Jamestown are also completely surrounded by waters, but there are no plans to evacuate them, at this point.

Three thousand people in Commerce City were told to evacuate, due to a partial breach in the dam at Rocky Mountain National Arsenal Wildlife Preserve. Residents of Boulder Canyon were also told they must evacuate, due to the severe threat of flash flooding. Parts of Aurora, Estes Park, Erie, Evergreen, Firestone, Fort Collins, Frederick, Greeley, Lafayette, Longmont, Loveland, and Milliken have also been evacuated. Other areas, including Berthoud, Boulder, Drake, and Windsor were placed on preevacuation notice.

Highway 34 in Big Thompson Canyon

Roads from Colorado through Denver and Aurora to Fort Collins were damaged or destroyed by the flooding, including Interstate 25, which remains closed from Highway 7 to the Wyoming border. Rocky Mountain National Park was closed to the public, except for residents of Estes Park who should decide to leave the town, as the road through the park is currently the only access available. Some roads may not open for weeks.

Throughout the flooded areas, thousands of homes are damaged and hundreds destroyed. At least a quarter of the CU Boulder campus was damaged. Schools, post offices, and other government buildings, throughout the region, were closed on Friday, with some unsure if they'd be open Monday.