Mudslide hits Alpine

A mudslide packed with rocks forced the evacuation of an entire Chaffee County mountain community late Saturday, but no one was injured.

About 100 people fled tiny Alpine, about 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista, after heavy rains sent thick mud and chunks of granite into a canyon at the base of Mount Princeton.

Residents who found shelter at Buena Vista High School said Sunday they weren’t sure when they’d be allowed home.

“It is a scary thing to see a wall of rock and mud coming at you,” said homeowner Jack Terry, who watched mud leak through his back door and into his kitchen.

Cementlike mud 4 feet deep surrounded Terry’s house, he said. But other houses weren’t touched, including one of Terry’s next-door neighbors, he said.

Hidden among aspen and pine trees about 12 miles west of U.S. Highway 285, Alpine houses about 20 year-round residents and an unknown number of summer vacationers.

“These are some absolutely tough people,” said Chaffee County Emergency Manager Carl Hasselbrink.

The canyon is surrounded by decayed granite that looks like powdered chalk, Hasselbrink said. More than a week of heavy rain got the granite moving, he said.

“As it takes on more and more water, then it gets slick. It’s almost like greasing the rocks,” Hasselbrink said.

After heavy rain Saturday, fire officials started evacuating Alpine and the nearby Iron City campground about 9:30 p.m., Hasselbrink said. They directed residents to Buena Vista,

transporting some in school buses.

By 2 a.m. Sunday, officials had registered all the residents at the Buena Vista Community Center, he said. They were then taken to the high school, where the American Red Cross had set up an emergency shelter.

Eighty-three people spent Saturday night at the high school, officials said.

Among them were Ed and Ann Heald, who live in Alpine year-round, and their 11-year-old granddaughter, Noa.

The family lost electricity about 6:45 p.m., Ed Heald said, and soon afterward Noa relayed some bad news.

“She ducked back in and said there’s mud coming up on the deck,” Ed Heald said.

For the next two hours, Ed Heald shoveled mud from around his house while his wife swept off the deck. About 10:30 p.m. Ed Heald, who has a history of heart problems, was taken by an ambulance to the Salida hospital. He was OK, but he wouldn’t be going back home that night.

“About a quarter to 3, my wife and granddaughter laid down on those lovely cots they provided,” he said.

Ann Heald said she heard County Road 292 west of Alpine was packed 10 feet deep with rock and mud.

Even if the roads are passable, engineers aren’t sure if residents’ wells have been contaminated, officials said.

Some Alpine residents were escorted back in Sunday afternoon to evacuate or care for pets.

Ed Heald scooped the litter box for his cats and made sure they were fine at home; Jack Terry took his cat Smoky to a friend’s house.

Rescue officials understood. “Pets are people,” said Buena Vista Mayor Cara Russell.

The crisis brought out the best in many people, officials said. One Buena Vista household took in 12 evacuees, Russell said.

About three dozen evacuees gathered outside the high school Sunday evening for a volunteer-prepared dinner of lasagna, salad and chocolate cake. Many laughed and talked like old friends.