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Some helicopters rescuing people after massive flooding in Colorado carried more dogs, cats and fish than people. Rescuers using zip lines to evacuate people over raging rivers also risked their lives to make sure the four-legged members of families were safe.
It didn't take long for the flood waters to move across fields in northeastern Colorado but the effects will be long lasting.
The Town of Estes Park has two priorities: allowing evacuees to return home and getting tourists back to visit.
Gov. John Hickenlooper named a recovery chief on Thursday to lead the state's reconstruction after destructive flooding and said transportation officials will expedite fixes to highways and bridges.
Search and rescue crews are scouring the massive flood zone in Larimer County. Teams of rescue and recovery dogs are also searching and finding out just how dangerous it can be searching in a disaster area.
Residents displaced by last week's flooding in the Colorado canyon town of Lyons were allowed past National Guard roadblocks Thursday to find a scene of tangled power lines, downed utility poles, mud-caked homes and vehicles, and work crews furiously clearing debris and trying to restore power, water and sewer service.
Colorado's flooding shut down hundreds of natural gas and oil wells in the state's main petroleum-producing region and triggered at least two spills, temporarily suspending a multibillion-dollar drilling frenzy and sending inspectors into the field to gauge the extent of pollution.
Boulder County officials say another person has been found dead from the Colorado floods, bringing the statewide death toll to seven.
Miami Heat forward Chris Andersen was the victim of a wide-ranging Internet hoax that resulted in a raid of his Denver-area home last year, his lawyer said Wednesday, and prosecutors confirmed Andersen was cleared of wrongdoing in the "extremely complex" case.
Some students from Lyons headed back to class in Longmont on Thursday as they returned to school for the first time since last week's devastating floods.
Jamestown, the small community in the mountains of Boulder County, has been cut off since last week when flooding destroyed every road and bridge into and out of the town.
Some evacuated residents in Larimer County are eager to return home but fear by the time they get there, irreparable damage may have been done. Others refused to leave and built a road in and out.
Colorado's flooding has shut down hundreds of natural gas and oil wells in the state's top petroleum patch and triggered at least two significant spills.
A couple who owns a home in one of the communities that was hit worst by flooding says while they were trapped in their mountain town they used downed trees to cross raging waterways and rope lines to make their way up muddy banks.
The White House says Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Colorado on Monday to view the damage from recent flooding.
