Tornadoes Kill 4 People In 3 States
A massive spring storm spawned dozens of tornadoes from the Rockies to the Plains, killing at least four people in three states, including a woman who was flung into a tree by a twister as wide as two football fields.
Sixty-five tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. By early Thursday, the storm system stretched from South Dakota to Texas.
In Holly, Colo., eleven people were injured and one died, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. A 29-year-old woman was thrown from her mobile home into a tree. While her husband and three-year-old daughter miraculously survived the devastation, Rosemary Puga died hours later at a hospital.
In Oklahoma, a twister killed a couple as it blew their home to pieces. In Texas, a man was found dead in the tangled debris of his trailer.
At least seven other people were hurt when the tornado skipped for a mile-and-a-half through Holly and surrounding areas.
"All they heard was this big ugly noise, and they didn't have no time to run," said Victoria Rosales, the victim's sister. She said the woman and her husband, Gustavo Puga, were in the kitchen and their 3-year-old daughter, Noelia, was sleeping in a front room when the tornado hit.
Puga was holding onto the little girl when rescuers found them, said his brother, Oscar Puga. The two were in fair condition Thursday at a Colorado Springs hospital.
See a twister touching down in Silverton, TexasAs residents sifted through their scattered belongings, the streets were littered with utility poles, power lines, tree limbs and debris. One woman whose house was destroyed wept as she searched for a wedding ring.
"Homes were there and now they're gone," Prowers County Administrator Linda Fairbairn said. "Many, if not all, the structures in town suffered some degree of damage."
At least 11 tornadoes were reported throughout western Nebraska, destroying or damaging three homes and at least 10 miles of power lines. Two twisters touched down in far northwest Kansas, severely damaging three homes, authorities said.
In Oklahoma, Vance and Barbra Woodbury were killed when the storm blew apart their home near the Panhandle community of Elmwood.
"We set off the tornado sirens, but they live too far out to hear them," said Dixie Parker, Beaver County's emergency management director. "The house was just flattened, the out buildings are gone. All that's left is debris."
Warning sirens went off in Oklahoma City on Thursday afternoon, but authorities could not immediately confirm whether a tornado had touched down. There were reports of minor damage but no injuries.
Tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle uprooted trees, overturned trucks and injured at least three people. The region also got baseball-sized hail.
Monte Ford, 53, was killed near Amarillo when he was thrown about 15 feet from his oilfield trailer, which was rolled by the wind.
The Colorado tornado killed dozens of cattle and injured others so severely they have to be shot.
"It's better than letting them suffer," said rancher Bill Lowe, who had about 800 cattle in his feedlot when the tornado hit. He lost at least 35 animals in the storm.
Just three months ago, back-to-back blizzards and subzero temperatures killed more than 10,000 livestock on farms across southeastern Colorado.
Neighbors and residents from surrounding towns comforted each other Thursday as they began cleaning up.
"They're mostly hugging one another, asking, 'Is your house standing, is your family OK?"' said Betty Vipman, who manages JR's Country Store and Video.
The same storm system dumped snow on Wyoming, causing highway pileups and closing large portions of three interstates. In the Wind River Mountains, 58 inches of snow had fallen by Thursday morning.
At least 800 homes in north-central Wyoming were without heat and electricity Thursday, down from about 2,200 the day before.