Windstorm Aftermath: Power Outages, Closed Schools
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (CBS4) - The strong winds are gone, but many people across the Denver metro area will be spending Wednesday cleaning up the damage the 70 and even 80 mph gusts left behind.
Tuesday's winds knocked down trees and street signs, blew over semis, spread fires and shattered windows Tuesday afternoon. They also caused widespread power outages.
On Wednesday Xcel Energy was working to restore power to thousands of customers. A total of 10,000 customers were without power in the metro area in the morning.
Some schools are closed Wednesday due to issues related to the windstorm. The Mapleton School District in Adams County is closed. So is Pioneer Elementary School in Lafayette and Sunset Ridge Elementary School in Westminster.
In Denver's West Highlands neighborhood, winds blew over a large pine tree on Vincent Busmire's property at West 35th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard. It landed on a Jeep as it was driving by, but luckily no one inside was seriously hurt.
"I heard a thump. And I didn't pay much attention to it because it wasn't that loud," Busmire said. "And then I came into the living room and I saw traffic diverting around and I said 'What's going on?' And I came out and I saw this (downed tree)."
The strongest wind gusts on Tuesday were recorded in the 70 and 80 mph range but that was mostly in the foothills and on the plains. Winds were recorded in the upper 60s in Denver. The National Weather Service also said the wind created a plume of dust stretching over 300 miles across the eastern half of Colorado, from the San Luis Valley to the state's northeastern corner.
The following are some other photos of wind damage on Tuesday:
