Residents Near Last Year's Deadly Massive Mudslide Worried About New Pond

COLLBRAN, Colo. (CBS4) - Collbran-area residents held a meeting on Tuesday over concerns about a pond that formed near the top of the site of a massive landslide killed three men last May.

The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction reported that experts don't think the pond poses an immediate danger to the community.

According to The Daily Sentinel, U.S. Forest Service hydrologist Ben Stratton said he doesn't believe the pond will overflow in the near future. He said if the pond were to overflow the water would be collected by the bumpy terrain.

U.S. Geological Survey geologist Jeff Coe believes any debris wouldn't make it as far as the original slide.

The three men were checking on problems with an irrigation ditch caused by an initial slide on May 25, 2014, when a large chunk of a ridge broke off, sending soggy earth spilling like wet cement for 3 miles. The slide was about three-quarters of a mile across and several hundred feet deep at the center.

The men were Clancy Nichols, 51, who also worked as a county road and bridge employee; his son Danny Nichols, 24; and Wes Hawkins, 46, who worked for the local water district.