Temperatures Plummet Prompting Hard Freeze Warning
DENVER (CBS4) - 96-year-old Richard Grupp spent most of the day in the dark using only a flashlight in his front pocket.
"I was just getting ready to go to bed and I said hang on I don't want to freeze to death," said Grupp.
There was no electricity for his oxygen or even to charge his hearing aids.
"Nothing nothing... when it goes dead I'm hard of hearing," said Grupp.
Family brought him blankets and sweatshirts to make it through the night when suddenly the power turned back on.
"They said in 20 minutes they'd have it on. That was three o'clock. So here we are, 6:30, yeah," said Grupp.
Xcel crews worked throughout the day to restore power to 100,000 customers.
Massive outages caused mostly by by tree branches that still have their leaves overwhelmed by wet snow.
In the foothills, snow caused accidents that shut down Interstate 70.