Denver snowed in, airport shelters stranded passengers
10:03 p.m. Thursday, December 21, 2006
About five thousand stranded passengers stuck at a snowed-in Denver International Airport got some more bad news Thursday: the airport will remain closed until Friday.
One young woman is late for her own wedding.
"I've cried enough. I have given up on crying. I've been here more than a day," she said.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled and the airport has turned into a shelter of sorts, complete with cots, blankets, and food lines.
"We are looking for the elderly, trying to track them down because they can't come to us. And women with babies, we track them down for the diapers and stuff," DIA worker James Hampton said.
The Red Cross has asked for more water, snacks and baby formula.
Outside the airport, Denver streets are empty and some neighborhood streets are clogged with 18 inches of snow. Long stretches of highways leading in and out of the city are impassable.
A number of people who abandoned their cars after being stranded in a snow drifts Wednesday came back Thursday to dig them out.
The nonessential state employees were asked to stay home Thursday and all state offices are closed.
Denver officials insist that the city was prepeard for the bizzard with a full contingent of 70 snowplows working around the clock. They say that the road crews were simply overwhelmed and could not keep up with the falling snow.
Actually, the Denver mayor says he is "delighted" with the city's response to the storm. And with with the city buried under a foot of snow, the city will hold snow parties for school kids, who get to miss a day of school because of the storm.
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