Fatal tornado’s strength unusual for Colorado

The tornado that devastated the southeastern Colorado town of Holly, killing a mother, had winds up to 165 mph as it cut a 15-mile swath of destruction through Prowers County on Wednesday night, weather officials said Friday.

It was the first fatal tornado in Colorado since 1960, and only the second Category 3 tornado — on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of 1-5 — to hit southern Colorado since 1995. The path of damage was 600 feet wide.

“We typically don’t get these longtracking, very violent tornadoes in Colorado,” said Bill Fortune, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Killed in the storm was Rosemary Rosales, who died at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs after her home was ripped from its foundation. Among the 11 injured were her common-law husband, Gustavo Puga, who was reported in fair condition at the hospital Friday, and their 3-year-old daughter, Noelia Puga, who was reported in good condition and preparing to be released. Their 7-year-old son Gustavo Puga Jr. was staying at his grandparents’ house and was not injured.

A memorial fund has been set up for the family. Donations can be sent to the Colorado East Bank and Trust, P.O. Box 607, Holly, CO, 81047.

They were given no warning about the impending tornado, according to family members, and only had time to huddle together before their home was tossed into the air. Rosales was found unconscious in a tree.

The lack of an alert, either by tornado sirens or through local media, has been the subject of discussion among officials.

Fortune said Friday the tornado formed too quickly for officials to predict.

Tornadoes form at the dividing line between cool dry air and warm moist air, coming from different directions. This time of year, that line is usually several hundred miles to the east, which appeared to be the case Wednesday night. A tornado watch was in effect for neighboring Kansas, but not in southeastern Colorado. A severe thunderstorm warning expired at 7:45 p.m.

“The dry line was holding and actually drifting eastward,” Fortune said.

So forecasters were surprised when radar showed some circulation, which they were still evaluating when a spotter called at 7:57 p.m. to report a funnel cloud touching down a mile south of Holly.

It moved fast, 50 to 60 mph, and hit the town at 7:58, before the warning could be sent to local media and emergency officials.

In Holly, officials depend on the weather service to tell them when to sound the tornado sirens, said Chris Sorensen, a spokesman for Prowers County emergency management. Police and fire officials can trigger the siren remotely, he said.

He agreed there was little that could have been done to warn people.

“It’s moving very rapidly from south to north very close to town and it was a very powerful storm at the start,” he said. “The technology we have available today is just not capable of giving a warning for this type of storm fast enough.”

In El Paso County, where 16 tornadoes have hit since 1995, officials stopped using sirens 18 years ago. Officials rely on local television and radio stations and reverse 911 phone calls to alert residents to natural disasters.

The weather service said the storm was a weak F-3, with winds of 136 to 150 mph, when it hit the area of northeastern Holly that saw the most damage. It intensified as it moved northeast, and was a strong F-3 when it devastated a ranch 12 miles north of Holly, according to the weather service. Nobody was at the ranch at the time.

State and federal officials were trying to get a handle on the damage Friday. Early estimates indicated 35 homes destroyed and 32 heavily damaged, or 15 percent to 20 percent of the homes in the town of about 1,000 people.

People in Holly were working furiously to clear debris Friday. Sorensen said 2,000 cubic yards of debris — enough to fill 250 dump trucks — were carried off Thursday.

“There were neighbors helping neighbors. There were public works crews helping. There were police officers,” Sorensen said. “The difference in 24 hours is absolutely incredible.”

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