HOLLY, Colo.-
Bill Lowe didn’t need a tornado to convince him to get out of the cattle business. In the weeks after a devastating blizzard hit southeastern Colorado this winter, he lost 25 mother cows and nearly 200 calves.
Lowe, 77, will lose another 40 when he puts them down—animals injured by the tornado that ripped across Holly on Wednesday. Twisted pieces of metal, mattresses and other debris were stuck in the fencing around his feedlot.
“One more of these deals and there wouldn’t be any equity left,” said Lowe, who with his son had put both their ranches up for sale before the tornado hit.
Just a couple of weeks after the last snow melted—December storms that killed thousands of livestock and dealt a severe economic blow to southeastern Colorado—a tornado as wide as two football fields took shape across Holly.
It swept along a seven-mile path and barreled through town, claiming the life of Rosemary Rosales, a 28-year-old mother of two.
Her 3-year-old daughter, Noelia, and husband, Gustavo Puga, were among seven people who were hospitalized.
At least 20 homes were destroyed and at least 140 homes were damaged, said Martin McNeese, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
On Friday, the National Weather Service said the storm was a Category 3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Such tornadoes produce winds of up to 150 mph. Earlier, forecasters put the tornado at Category 2, with winds of up to 135 mph. One preliminary report had said the tornado might have been a Category 4, with winds up to 199 mph.
Residents used rakes, chain saws and bulldozers to clear debris left from the tornado, one of dozens to hit the nation’s midsection this week. People were warned to wear masks and to hose down debris before they handled it because of fears of asbestos.
A mental health team was on hand to counsel victims. A Red Cross truck circulated through the town, offering coffee to workers.
“We were feeling pretty good about things, and then this happened,” Prowers County Administrator Linda Fairbairn said.
The rural county had spent about half its $1 million emergency fund to clear roads and provide services to residents after the December storms, and Fairbairn said officials expected the federal government to pay some $40,000 toward those costs.
Curt Rushton, a Holly rancher who lost five cows and 40 calves this winter, said even a 30-ton tractor would get stuck in the ice underneath the snow. After the snowstorms, he found some of his cows 20 miles away.
This week’s tornado spared his ranch but badly damaged a feedlot he manages south of town.
Leaning against his pickup truck with his cattle dog Honcho in back, Rushton—who helps manage a catering company serving free burritos to residents Friday—insisted that Holly’s 1,000 residents would recover from this latest blow.
“It’s the greatest place in the whole world, even with all this,” Rushton said. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
Nearby communities sent help, including Limon, which sent bottled water. Others sent food, and a mobile kitchen was set up.
“Come back in a year. You won’t believe it,” said Mayor Tom Crum, who was overseeing a bulldozer demolishing his heavily damaged home.
Prowers County had planned to use the rest of its emergency funds to patch roads, fix culverts and replace road signs damaged by the winter storms. But Fairbairn said much of that money will be used for repairs in Holly.
“We’re not pitiful. We’re proud, but we hope this is the last challenge we have for awhile. The people in this part of the state are survivors,” she said.
