Tornado Destroys Man's Home: 'It Tore The Roof Off The House'
BERTHOUD, Colo. (CBS4)- A Berthoud man is among those trying to salvage what's left of his belongings after a tornado destroyed his home Thursday night.
"I watched it touch down... about two minutes it took from where it touched down to here so we didn't have very much time," said homeowner Brandon Scott.
The tornado destroyed his home while he took cover in his basement. The twister also damaged more than a dozen others, destroying three homes.
The tornado touched down at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in an unincorporated part of the county, southwest of the town of Berthoud. The National Weather Service report on the twister doesn't state how long the tornado stayed on the ground. There was also a touchdown by a tornado, possibly the same one, just south of the area in Boulder County.
"It tore the roof off the house, sounded pretty crazy and had that crazy pressurized, that pressurized feeling in the ears," said Scott.
"Enough, enough," Scott's mother, Tami Almendinger, said after a flood and a fire, a tornado was the last thing they needed.
"Too much tragedy."
The twister snapped trees, flipped vehicles and literally lifted Scott's truck up from where it was parked and slammed it down in the middle of a field.
As Scott peered out his basement window, he said he saw a twisted tractor trailer slam up against his house.
"So when I saw the trailer coming towards the house, I ducked a little bit more," said Scott.
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As quickly as the tornado ripped through the home, it left, moving to a neighbor's home, tearing out walls and ceilings and leaving a pile of debris where a home once stood.
Don Grabowsky watched it all from across the street.
"It was coming directly at us but I just kept staring at it and as it moved, it devoured my neighbor's house, just ate it," said Grabowsky.
The tornado left his home untouched but leveled another one just a few hundred yards away.
Emergency officials say in addition to the three homes that are a total loss, there are 12 homes that are damaged. A damage assessment was taking place on Friday.
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Remarkably for all the destruction, no one was hurt.
"I consider it very lucky that all of them came out safe," said Almendinger.
Several homes in Elbert County were also damaged by what the National Weather Service says were two different tornadoes.