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Tornado Slams Windsor
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The devastation can be seen throughout the town of Windsor. Rooftops are peeled off of homes, cars are overturned with windows blown out and once strong vibrant trees stand as stumps stripped of their branches and leaves. One person is dead. Those are just some of the effects of a mile-wide tornado that spun through parts of Northern Colorado and ripped Windsor apart.
But not only is the destruction seen, it is also felt.
"With somebody else's roof in our home, everything we have here is completely destroyed," said Laura Handley, who was working on a photo album when the tornado hit late Thursday morning. “All the pictures of my baby are destroyed. I don't how we're going to rebuild.”
Governor Bill Ritter declared Windsor in a state of emergency. Windsor officials debriefed the governor about the situation in Windsor and then led him on a tour of the damage.
Flanked by law enforcement officials from across Northern Colorado, who came to help out in the disaster relief effort, Governor Ritter spoke to media outside of Windsor's main firehouse.
"Extensive property damage is an understatement,” said Ritter. “There is property damage to various commercial parks and then very significant damage to one subdivision."
Although it appears that all the residents escaped the tornado with their lives, there was a death reported in a nearby camping ground in Western Greeley.
"It is an absolute tragedy when there is loss of life and apparently there is one fatality," said Ritter.
The governor said he is reaching out to the federal government for help. He requested federal assistance from the national director of FEMA and Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. It is estimated that it could take up to three days before power is fully restored to Windsor. Thousands are without electricity. At least four substations were destroyed in the storm. Stores with back up generators were the only functional businesses, but after a while, the gas to power the generators was running scarce.
"They were calling me to say that they would offer whatever federal assistance was appropriate under the circumstances," said Ritter.
Some people like Laura Handley will accept any help she can get. The entire frame of her house was smashed in when a roof from another house landed in her living room.
"With somebody else's roof in our home, everything we have here is completely destroyed," said Handley. "When nature takes its course it's violent."
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