Avalanche buries CarsA huge avalanche buried cars Saturday and may have pushed others over the edge on a highway near 11,307-foot-high Berthoud Pass, Colorado highway officials said.
"Our crews said it was the largest they have ever seen. It took three paths," said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Eight people had been rescued and one was taken to a hospital, Stegman said.
The slide buried at least two cars, state Patrolman Eric Wynn told FOXNews.
Crews were probing the area for other vehicles, including any that may have gone off the road, Stegman said.
The avalanche was described as 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep.
Berthoud Pass is the main route to Winter Park, one of Colorado's largest ski areas.
The highway is completely closed at this time, and will remain closed for the rest of the day, Wynn confirmed.
Colorado was hammered Friday with its third snowstorm in as many weeks, complicating recovery efforts from back-to-back blizzards and raising fears that livestock losses would keep mounting.
The Denver area was blanketed with up to 8 inches of snow, while nearly a 1 foot fell in the foothills west of the city before the storm moved into New Mexico.
In Kansas, an estimated 60,000 people were still without power after more than a week, and between 6,000 to 10,000 customers remained in the dark in Nebraska, according to Nebraska Public Power District.
Crews in Colorado worked around the clock to clear roads so residents could get to stores for food and medicine. Several school districts canceled classes because winds gusts up to 30 mph had reduced visibility.