More Tornadoes tear through Kansas; Colorado assessing damage
Pastor Dale Morgan
More Tornadoes tear through Kansas; Colorado assessing damage*
* Story Highlights
* Multiple tornadoes strike Kansas for second day in row
* Funnel cloud reported in Greensburg, Kansas; site of massive
tornado in 2007
* Colorado officials tour areas hit by tornado, assess damage
* Colorado governor declares state of emergency
WINDSOR, Colorado (AP) -- Stormy weather, natural gas leaks and the
threat of explosions kept hundreds of anxious residents from assessing
the damage to their homes on Friday, a day after a large tornado tore
through a 35-mile stretch of northern Colorado, killing one person and
injuring dozens.
A weather-beaten pickup truck sits among debris left after a tornado
tore through Colorado.
The twister damaged or destroyed homes, businesses, dairies and farms in
several Weld County towns Thursday. The storm system pelted the region
with golf ball-size hail, swept vehicles off roads and tipped 15 rail
cars off the tracks in Windsor, a farm town about 70 miles north of Denver.
Police and more than 100 National Guard troops cordoned off a
particularly hard-hit area of about one square mile on Friday so utility
crews could check each home for gas leaks, repair gas mains severed by
uprooted trees, remove downed power lines and clear streets of shattered
glass and debris.
It might take a day or more to secure the area, said Bill Easterling,
commander of the emergency response team.
"I think at this point it's pretty much hit me," said a dejected Cindy
Miller, a 46-year-old high school teacher. "I'm not going home for a while."
Before being ordered out Thursday, Miller found a wall to her house torn
apart and insulation, glass, water and debris everywhere. Wooden planks
had penetrated a bathroom wall, and her trampoline was in a neighbor's yard.
There were 596 homes damaged, with 102 deemed unsafe to occupy, when the
tornado bounced along a 35-mile-long swath that began near Platteville,
about 50 miles north of Denver, public information officer Dan Hatlestad
said.
A 52-year-old man was killed at a campground near Greeley, said Weld
County Deputy Coroner Chris Robillard.
Thirteen people were treated at hospitals, and more than 100 others
received medical attention for minor injuries, said Jim Shires, a
spokesman for emergency responders. Crews searched the cordoned-off area
of Windsor and found no additional victims.
In central and western Kansas meanwhile, tornadoes struck Friday for the
second night in a row, destroying at least one house and causing
widespread damage to farm buildings and power lines. There were no
immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
Emergency officials in Commanche County said the city of Protection took
a direct hit from a tornado Friday night, but initial assessments showed
no injuries and mostly overturned trees and power lines.
Kiowa County officials said a funnel cloud passed directly over
Greensburg, causing minor damage. A massive tornado destroyed most of
Greensburg a year ago.
Back in Colorado, Gov. Bill Ritter toured the damage and declared a
state of emergency for the area.
"I think it's just miraculous that there has not been more loss of
life," U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave said after touring damaged
neighborhoods Friday. She and Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard asked President
Bush to declare the area a disaster to free up federal aid.
Conditions converged in just the right way, time and place to produce "a
pretty remarkable tornado," said Greg Carbin of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
A preliminary damage survey Friday by the National Weather Service
showed the tornado that hit Greeley was likely an E-F3, with speeds from
136 mph to 165 mph, and the one that hit Windsor had wind speeds of 111
mph to 135 mph. Meteorologist Dan Leszcynski said it was unclear whether
the twisters were one and the same.
Garry Briese, a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, said FEMA would find housing for displaced residents.
About 6,000 customers were still without power, and Xcel Energy said it
could be a week before it's restored.
"We can't find poles, wires, transformers," utility spokesman Mark Stutz
said. "Stuff is gone. There's nothing there."
Threatening skies, high winds and another tornado warning Friday forced
workers to temporarily suspend cleanup and residents to scurry to
shelter. At least two tornadoes were reported in the plains east of
Windsor. No damage was reported. The National Weather Service received
reports that a third tornado near the Nebraska line downed four power
lines, snapped a fence and overturned a stock trailer.
Severe storms, some including tornadoes, also ripped through parts of
Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and California on Thursday, damaging homes and
farm lands. In northwestern Oklahoma, a truck ran off a road that had
been washed away by heavy rain, killing a 14-year-old boy, state
troopers said Friday.
Tornadoes touched down about 20 miles northwest of Cheyenne and near
Interstate 80 in eastern Wyoming, said Chad Hahn, meteorologist with the
National Weather Service there. Small tornadoes were also reported
Friday in Platte County, he said. Some damage was reported but no injuries.
About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters so far this year, the worst
toll in a decade, according to the weather service, and the danger has
not passed yet. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early
summer, then again in the late fall.