Ritter says Coloradans will respond to help tornado victims

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WELD COUNTY - A series of tornadoes ripped through northern Colorado and Wyoming on Thursday, destroying homes and leaving one dead.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said to call the damage extensive "would be an understatement."

Seven reports of tornadoes touching down on Thursday around lunchtime were received at the following locations:

*11:29 a.m. - tornado touches down between Platteville and Gilcrest
*11:40 a.m. - same tornado hits east of Milliken
*11:52 a.m. - same tornado strikes Windsor
*12:06 p.m. - tornado reported west of Severance
*12:14 p.m. - same tornado hits six miles south of Wellington, near the Anheuser-Bush Brewery
*12:23 p.m. - separate tornado hits west of Dacono
*1:22 p.m. - separate tornado hits Laramie, Wyoming

The Weld County Sheriff's Office confirmed shortly before 2 p.m. that at least one person had been killed during the tornadoes. The Weld County Coroner's office identified him as 52-year-old Oscar Michael (Mike) Manchester. He was living in his motor home in the Missile Silo Park camping area.

Ritter has declared a state emergency for Weld County due to the damage wrought by the tornadoes.

The most significant damage appears to be in Windsor where either an F2 or F3 tornado hit.

"It's going to be a long time before the town recovers," said Windsor Mayor John Vazquez.

The governor arrived in Weld County around 5 p.m. on Thursday and his declaration has mobilized the Colorado National Guard which will help move emergency crews and law enforcement officials in and out of the disaster areas.

Ritter met with the Windsor Police and Fire chiefs when he arrived. Crews are doing a secondary sweep through the town with about 80 firefighters looking for anyone who needs help.

The total number of injured is unknown, but authorities in Windsor say at least 100 people were treated for a variety of injuries. Additionally, seven people injured by one of the tornadoes were taken to the Medical Center of the Rockies and another two were treated and released at Poudre Valley Hospital.

FEMA has already arrived on scene and a representative took a helicopter tour with Ritter on Thursday afternoon.

"We will be doing all we can to assist the people of Weld County as we assess the damage and determine how the state can provide the most effective aid," Ritter said. "My heart goes out to the people of Weld County during this very dangerous time."

After taking the aerial tour to survey the damage, Ritter said that it was hard to estimate how many homes were damaged, but he says Coloradans will respond.

"We experienced this in Holly, in Ordway, in southeast Colorado during the blizzard. People from all over Colorado were part of the response. It is impressive," said Ritter.

Inside the town of Gilcrest, damage was minimal. There is some structural damage to homes and a lot of tree limbs that are down. More significant damage is west of Gilcrest toward Platteville along County Road 42 where homes were blown apart and power lines knocked down. Roads are closed throughout that area.

"The tornado went right over our building. The buildings next to us are devastated," said witness Brian Parsonnet who weathered the storm in Windsor. "The thing was so big we couldn't tell if it was a tornado or not because it was so big."

"We ran around to the adjacent buildings, but I wasn't able to find anyone who reported any injuries," said Parsonnet.

9NEWS Northern Newsroom Reporter Adam Chodak says water main breaks were visible in the area. 9NEWS received reports of injuries in the area where children at a daycare received minor scratches. Roughly 130 kids were in the daycare and they hid in a bank vault for safety. None of the children were injured, but several cars suffered heavy damage near the building.

Cindy Anderson, a Windsor resident, told 9NEWS shortly after the tornado hit she saw a sports utility vehicle with the roof of a building on top of it.

"The town is a mess," said Anderson. "We are hearing sirens. It's bad. There is a ton of damage." (Click here for more witness accounts of the damage.)

Vazquez says there are no tornado sirens in the area and that is why residents did not hear any go off. Windsor did at one time have a fire siren until 1999. The siren was used to summon volunteers to the fire department. However, in 1999 they started using pagers and got rid of the siren. It was never a tornado siren, but many in the town thought it was.

From Gilcrest, a witness told 9NEWS, "It looked like it was a half a mile wide." He took cover in a nearby bank. "We had time to run into a bank vault. It was a direct hit," said the witness.

SKY9 found several homes damaged between Weld County and Platteville. Irrigation sprinkler lines were tipped over in the area.

The storm turned a large truck on its side along Highway 85 between Gilcrest and Platteville. In a field nearby the truck at least one building suffered heavy damage.

West of Greeley, a tornado made a direct hit on a State Farm building. Cars were tossed off of the road, trees are down and the Swift & Company lost its roof. The tornado is said to have been 3/4 mile to 1 mile wide.

The Weld County Sheriff's Office says all schools in Gilcrest and Windsor were in lockdown because of the tornadoes, but no damage was reported to the schools. The lockdown was lifted on Thursday afternoon.

Vazquez also said that Windsor schools had been notified of a tornado warning 15 minutes before the twister hit, giving school personnel enough time to get students in safe locations.

Authorities say a tornado did come close to schools in Gilcrest, but because of the lockdown parents were told not to go to the school to get their children until the lockdown was lifted later in the afternoon.

Officials say the children were safe, there were no injuries and reinforced that there was no damage to the buildings.

At 4 p.m., the Weld County Sheriff's Office ordered mandatory evacuations for sections of Windsor due to gas leaks and downed power lines. Law enforcement says citizens in the effected areas will be notified.

Gilcrest Town Administrator Barbara Kirkmeyer says many lights are out in the area, but Xcel Energy is already working on the downed power lines. As many as 15,000 people are without power. (Click here to read more.)

The Windsor Community Center shelter is being closed because the power is out. Those who were at the shelter are being moved to the Budweiser Events Center.

There is also a shelter set up in the Gilcrest school gym at 8th Street and Railroad Ave.

A temporary animal shelter was set up at the Windsor Community Center and Weld County is on accident alert. The Weld County Humane Society is also taking in animals.

The storm has also resulted in several road closures due to the damage. Colorado 34 is closed in both directions at Windsor, which includes the exit to Windsor from I-25. Highway 257 is also closed from Windsor to Weld County Road 54 because of the widespread damage in the area.

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office says Poudre Schools were put into lockdown because of the storms, but the lockdown was lifted just before 2 p.m.

Weld RE-4 District in Windsor said Thursday afternoon that teachers should not report to school on Friday, but should instead just contact the principal for end of the year closeout procedures. District and building administrators are asked to report to the district office at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

Carestream Health is closed until 7 a.m. Saturday.

The sheriff's office also says the lights are out at 392 and Interstate 25 and County Road 5 and 392 is backed up because the stoplight is out, but there is no accident reported there.

Both of directions of I-25 are not currently closed south of Wellington, but they were closed during the tornadoes so drivers encountered many backups in the area.

9NEWS.com has crews throughout the state and will continue to provide updates as they become available.

The Weld County Sheriff's Office is posting continuous updates on its Web site at www.weldsheriff.com.

The Weld Emergency Operations Center is open. Anyone needing information, assistance, or referrals, can call 970-304-6440.

For information about Windsor, call 970-686-2626.

The tornado in Wyoming hit a Wal-Mart, a high school and a junior high school as well as homes near the Wal-Mart.

If you are looking for information about the welfare of those impacted by the tornadoes, log onto www.redcross.org.