- Cortez police search for semi truck that caused a gas pump fire early Tuesday morning.
- Dolores Town Board postpones meeting Monday night for lack of a quorum.
- Nine people dead and four missing after flash flood in Hilldale on the Utah-Arizona border.
Police are looking for a semi truck that struck a gas pump and sparked a fire on Cortez’s Main Street early Tuesday morning, then fled. Mya Balderrama, a manager at the Alon convenience store, told KSJD the store was not open, but passersby saw the flames and the truck leaving. Assistant Cortez Fire Chief Chuck Balke says the fire department, which is located next to the store, got the call at 5:36 a.m. and was able to quickly shut off the fuel and extinguish the potentially perilous flames, limiting damage to a single island. He says a few pieces of the semi were left on scene that could enable police to match them to the vehicle if it is located.
In other local news, the Dolores Town Board had to postpone its scheduled meeting Monday night because a quorum of the seven members failed to show up. Mayor Val Truelson, who was present, said the board will take up its business at 6:30 p.m. the following Monday. Among the agenda items are public hearings on a parking ordinance and a weed ordinance.
And in regional news, nine people are dead and four are reported missing as the result of a flash flood in Hilldale on the Utah-Arizona border. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that 16 people in an SUV and a van were watching the flooding in the town located at the base of Caanan Mountain when their vehicles were swept away. Three of them escaped. The victims included children and mothers from multiple families. Hilldale is a polygamous community populated by followers of the FLDS. A flash flood warning remained in effect there through mid-afternoon Tuesday. Thunderstorms, rain, and possible flooding are expected across much of southern Utah, eastern Utah, and western Colorado through Wednesday even as much of Colorado’s Front Range from Buena Vista to the eastern plains was under a red-flag warning for fire danger Tuesday.
