Massive avalanche knocks out town of Ophir's power in San Miguel County
An avalanche in San Miguel County has closed a road and knocked out power in the historic mining town of Ophir.
Ophir Road is closed at Highway 145 in western Colorado due to the avalanche, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office.
Crews from the San Miguel Power Association were working to resolve the power issue. A Facebook post from the association said the arriving crews immediately began to dig into the snow to clear off the power delivery equipment that got disrupted by the slide.
The hope was that power would be restored to the town by Thursday morning.
An avalanche also affected Highway 145 a little further south on Lizard Head Pass. The sheriff's office said the highway was closed because of an avalanche that was reported between Rico and Telluride in neighboring Dolores County.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center currently reports that the avalanche danger is "considerable" in the San Juan Mountains and may soon move to "high." The avalanche danger is higher there than in any section of Colorado right now.
