Storm that brought tornado, hail lashed Highlands Ranch as damage estimates rise

Damage estimates are rising after a tornado whipped through parts of Douglas County Thursday afternoon, sending people scurrying for cover and bringing down trees, and tearing at homes and buildings.

"Then all of a sudden it got dark and the wind just came up and here we are now," said Sean Pressley, as he cleaned up Northridge Road. 

Pressley and another man yanked at a tree that blocked the road. 

"We both started hooking chains to it. Dragging it out of the way. Scraping and pulling and chucking what we could," he said. 

Nearby there were trees on homes and workers were called in right away. 

Ricardo Crespin, normally a demolition guy, was there within an hour to give an estimate. 

"Yeah the phone starts ringing and you know we gotta' get to work," he said. "We'll just get it chopped up and cleaned up. Let these people move on their way."

In places, there were lights bent to the ground and a traffic signal got pulled down. A South Metro fire station had damage. All from a tornado that whipped up trouble. 

"I saw the turn of the winds yeah. You could see the cloud, the funnel, everything," Pressley said.

Northridge Elementary School had roof and solar panel damage. 

The district said there were students and teachers there at the time, but no injuries. 

Even with so many trees pulled down in the path of the storm, there were no reports of significant injury Thursday night, but a lot of cleanup work ahead.