DHAKA: Emergency teams are searching for hundreds of people still missing after Colorado`s deadly floods.

State officials said that more than 300 are still unaccounted for, but many are believed to be merely cut off in remote areas inundated by the historic torrential rains.

Several towns were encircled by raging waters. More than 3,000 people have been evacuated by air and ground.

The floods have been blamed for eight deaths, 1,500 homes destroyed and another 17,000 properties damaged.

Days of rain was followed by a flash-flood rainstorm in the early hours of Wednesday last week.

The flood zone covers parts of or all of 17 Colorado counties, in the normally semi-arid region around the state`s major cities.

In the Weld County, bordering Wyoming, 654 miles of roads are damaged. In Boulder County, damage includes 150 miles of road, along with hundreds of bridges, culverts and canals.

More than 400 lane-miles of state highway and some 30 bridges are destroyed or impassable.

President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration in the wake of the flooding, which allows federal emergency aid to be used in the state.

An initial $5milion has been pledged but it is unknown how much total federal funding Colorado will receive to rebuild.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1130 HRS, SEP 18, 2013
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