Residents and authorities surveyed the damage from tornadoes that crushed houses and dropped hail that piled up like snow as the threat loomed of more severe weather Friday in Colorado.
Twisters on Thursday night destroyed at least three homes and damaged more than two dozen others, but weather and darkness hindered people from taking a closer look at the damage.
Driving home and had to divert into Walmart in Longmont. Tornado apparently touched down nearby, angry skies. #tornado #severe weather A photo posted by Ron Stern (@globalgumshoe) on Jun 4, 2015 at 7:00pm PDT
Denver Channel reporter Lindsay Watts shared photos and videos from Larimer County on Friday morning that showed houses with their roofs ripped clean off and others torn from their foundations.
Closer look at #tornado in Larimer Co. Berthoud fire chief says he discovered a home that's gone-just foundation left pic.twitter.com/yZp5YyTX6B— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) June 5, 2015
In Simla, in eastern Colorado, multiple tornadoes damaged six homes but caused no injuries.
Tornado, Simla, CO @JimCantore @DavidWBrown7 #severewx #cowx #Tornado #SevereWeather #supercell @weatherchannel pic.twitter.com/TsAziTggJk— Rick Smart (@rick_smart) June 5, 2015
The strong storm system also hit the Denver area, bringing hail the size of quarters and opening a sinkhole about 15 feet deep that swallowed a police SUV.
Sgt. Greg Miller said he could hear water all around him in the hole on a Sheridan street, and he crawled out a window, pulled himself up on the roof and then up to the pavement above.
11:30PM hail storm....pitch black until the lightning strikes. Almost golfball sized hail. #weather A photo posted by Bruce V (@brucefaks) on Jun 4, 2015 at 10:24pm PDT
"I'm glad it happened to me and to no one else," Miller told Denver news station KMGH-TV.
No filter. A video posted by djoshshelton (@djoshshelton) on Jun 4, 2015 at 5:54pm PDT
Scott Oliver, who lives in northern Boulder County, told The Daily Camera newspaper that he went to move his car because of hail when he saw the tornado touch down.
"It was probably on the ground two minutes," he said. "It was just kicking up everything. It was terrible."
Oliver said that when he saw a piece of roof go flying by, "it was clear it packed a punch.
"When the roof blew by, we knew it was serious," he said, adding that his neighbor was forced to dive beneath a tractor and then into a ditch as the tornado approached.
Tornado right by our house #tornado A photo posted by Kalev Kallas (@bulldawg305) on Jun 4, 2015 at 5:42pm PDT
Luke Koldewyn of Johnstown, who was waiting to get past a checkpoint, said his parents' modular home was destroyed in the twisters.
He said his parents weren't home at the time but he waded in chest-deep water to check on their home, through a field that normally only has a small stream running through it.
Tornado damage near Berthoud. Now the cleanup begins. @850KOA pic.twitter.com/Wcik3Ynsul— John Morrissey (@JetCopter850) June 5, 2015
He found only the house's deck was left standing and one of his parents' dogs, Luna, trapped in the rubble. "She didn't want to be free. She was scared to move," he said. Another black Lab named Juliet is missing.
He said residents are amazed that tornadoes touched down so close to the foothills, visible in the distance from the area of modest homes set on two- and three-acre plots.
So this bad boy just touched down about 5+ miles from the restaurant and we're still on a wait! Damn we have good food! #theroost #theroosterknows #theroostlongmont #howweroll #tornado #twister #truecooks A photo posted by Dova (@chef_rooster) on Jun 4, 2015 at 6:45pm PDT
"People who have lived here 50 years had never seen weather like that before," he said.