Colorado flash flooding causes evacuations, closes U.S. 550

Ouray County officials ordered evacuations near the Gold Mountain burn scar on Wednesday evening as flash floods hit the area, closing U.S. 550 in both directions.

People living near Ponderosa Village and Cutler Creek Drive between Ridgway and Ouray should evacuate if able to safely leave home, or climb to high ground, because of “active intense flooding,” county officials said. Updates on those evacuations were not immediately available Thursday morning.

“Extreme flooding is occurring in this area due to heavy rain on the (Gold Mountain) burn scar,” the Ouray County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook.

Red Mountain Pass — a section of U.S. 550 that travels from Ouray to Silverton — remained closed in both directions Thursday morning between mile markers 75 and 91, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Crews were responding to at least eight mud and rockslides along the mountain pass that morning, state transportation officials said. At least one stretch of the highway on Red Mountain Pass, at Ruby Walls, has reported shoulder damage, state officials said.

A separate section of U.S. 550 near Portland and Cutler Creek, north of Ouray, was also closed for flooding but reopened at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Flooding near the Aspen Acres burn scar also closed roads in Beulah on Wednesday night, Pueblo County officials said.