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Violent storm flips over trucks and trees in trail of destruction

Wind gusts reached speeds of well over hurricane force.

Marissa Wenzke

on January 9, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

A violent storm, connected to the atmospheric river event hitting California, tore across El Paso County, Colorado on Monday. High winds descending from the Rockies ploughed through cars and buildings in a trail of destruction while wind gusts were reportedly as high as 101 mph in some areas.

Officials at the Fort Carson military base ordered residents to stay inside their homes, warning in a Facebook post that blowing debris and other hazards made it "extremely dangerous" to leave the house.

Amid the fury of the storm, parts of the Colorado Springs area saw power outages and school cancellations -- with some schools going on lockdown -- and huge piles of debris left behind.

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Flights were delayed at Denver International Airport and some flights were cancelled at Colorado Springs Airport, where wind speeds reached up to 78 mph.

Much of the Colorado Springs area went into shut-down, as emergency evacuations and street closures took hold in some places.

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“This is one of the worst windstorms I’ve seen in my 34 years with the department,” Colorado Springs Police Department Lt. Howard Black told the Denver Post. “It’s an extremely active event throughout the city, with downed power lines, downed trees in roadways. There is widespread property damage and windows blown out of parked cars.”

Across Twitter, images of the winter storm show smashed cars, buildings with their roofs partially ripped off, and buses and semi-trucks knocked over along the highways.

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Colorado Springs is typically prone to strong winds as air flows downslope from the Rocky Mountains. Monday’s event was notable, however, for causing widespread damage, with gusts reportedly greater than 90 mph in some spots.

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The strong winds were expected to stick around in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region until around 4 or 5 p.m. MST, National Weather Service meteorologist Clint Skelly told The Colorado Springs Gazette.

Meanwhile, other parts of Colorado are seeing heavy snow, part of an unsettled weather pattern across the West that claimed the life of a celebrated Sequoia Tree in California.

Andrew Freedman contributed to this story.

Marissa Wenzke

Marissa is a real-time news intern at the LA office. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. She's a free spirit.