Spring Blizzard Blankets Rockies

Flights Canceled, Travelers Stranded, Power Out After Snowfall

(CBS/AP)  The lateness of the snowstorm recalled the devastating blizzard of March 17, 2003, but the disruption wasn't nearly as severe — not that it was a joy to drive in.

The American Red Cross opened two shelters for about 25 stranded travelers in Colorado. In Limon, about 90 miles east of Denver, the United Methodist Church also opened its doors.

Madeline Rebol, 16, and her father, Dave, took shelter after it took them nearly five hours to drive 70 miles from Colorado Springs, where she was supposed to participate in a volleyball tournament that was canceled.

The highway to their home in Fort Morgan in northeastern Colorado was closed, so they planned to bunk with 13 other people in the church's Sunday school room and fellowship hall.

"You could barely see in front of you," Madeline Rebol said. "The wind was really bad. The roads weren't quite so bad, but there were cars off the road about every 20 to 30 feet."

Five customers were huddled at the Metropolitan Mudd Coffee Co. in downtown Denver. The two employees insisted they would maintain regular hours, though many other businesses were closed.

"I'm from Michigan, sweetheart, I need a lot more snow than this to keep me out," employee Rodd Remmelts said.

P.J. Johnson sat outside a Baskin-Robbins for 30 minutes waiting to pick up a birthday cake for his fiancée, Brooke, but no one came to open the store.

She still got something, though. Earlier, the lifelong Denver resident, who has become accustomed to seeing snow on her birthday, bet her boss it would snow again this year. She won $100.