“Straight-line” winds in the 80 mph range – not a tornado – caused damage to several outbuildings and barns in the Ellicott area on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Bill Fortune, chief meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo, surveyed the damage Tuesday to determine whether a tornado had touched down about 4 p.m. Monday.
“The damage that was produced appeared to be from straight-line winds and nearly all of the damage occurred in outbuilding-type structures, buildings that had openings or facings to the south, implying a south to north wind, which would have been parallel to the movement of the storm,” Fortune said.
The winds knocked a mobile home off a cinder-block foundation and ripped the roof off outbuildings and carports. Two campers were flipped over.
Power lines were downed in a 65-square-mile area on the plains, 20 miles east of Colorado Springs as the storm, which packed hail, rain and strong winds, moved into the area. No one was seriously injured.
On Memorial Day in 2001, a tornado touched down in Ellicott, causing severe damage to a school.
“It’s not unusual for places to have multiple events over four or five years,” Fortune said.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
