RUSTIC — Two more bodies have been found in the Poudre River after flooding and mudslides in northern Colorado last week, authorities said, bringing the total confirmed dead to three. One more person remains missing.
The body of a man was found on Monday morning. Another man’s body was found on Sunday.
The discoveries come after the body of a woman was found near the small community of Rustic, about 100 miles northwest of Denver, last week after a mudslide sent a large amount of debris into the scenic, winding Poudre Canyon earlier that day.
One more person remains missing but, after a series of searches, including using heavy equipment to look through large piles of debris, no other searchers are currently planned, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.
“Search teams will not be fielded again unless new information presents a need,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
A vehicle was pulled from the Poudre River last week, but it was not occupied.
The names of the three people found dead, as well as the two who remain missing, have not been released.
Six homes were destroyed and another was damaged, all on Black Hollow Road, the sheriff’s office said.
The flooding and slides happened in area that was burned last year by the 326-square-mile Cameron Peak fire. Fires torch vegetation that usually helps absorb rain and keep the ground stable, making those areas more vulnerable to flooding, especially in steep sections. The soil in burned areas can also repel rain.