MAMMOTH WINDS TOPPLE BIG RIGS ON I-70; TROUBLE ON I-76, TOO

UPDATE

Friday's roaring wind gusts flipped semi-trucks along I-70 on Colorado's eastern prairie, the state patrol said.

Semis and high-profile vehicles were banned in both direction between Highway 40 at Deer Trail and the Kansas State Line, the patrol said. The Deer Trail Volunteer Fire Department said rescuers extricated a truck driver from one of the wrecks and contained a fuel leak. Winds also affected traffic on I-25 near the Wyoming state line. To the northeast on I-76, the Sterling Fire Department reported: "Crews are being kept busy with overturned semis, downed power and communications, broken telephone poles, and a rekindled controlled burn." Near the Town of Sedgwick, an overturned rig blocked both lanes of I-76, the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office said. A semi also succumbed to Mother Nature and flipped in Yuma County, officials said.

On I-76

[Photos: Colorado State Patrol, Sterling Fire Department]