Crews search for 3 people in Colorado mudslide

GRAND JUNCTION, CO -- Rescue teams resumed the search Monday for three men reported missing after a large mudslide struck the high country of western Colorado.

The slide hit Sunday in a remote area near the town of Collbran, about 40 miles east of Grand Junction. The Mesa County Sheriff's Department estimated it measured 4 miles long, 2 miles wide and as 250 feet deep in many places, but it said no structures or major roads were affected.

Mesa County Sheriff's dispatcher Amanda Orr said three men, all area residents, were unaccounted for. It wasn't known if they were in the area impacted by the massive slide.

A sheriff's helicopter was surveying the slide area early Monday. Authorities erected a roadblock outside Collbran, a town of about 700 people, to keep onlookers from the slide area, situated near Salt Creek road and Vega Reservoir.

The region features large mesas and is partially surrounded by the Grand Mesa National Forest.

Rescuers raced to the scene when it was reported around 6:15 p.m. Sunday, sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa McCammon said. She said the slide area was "very unstable."