Back-to-back days of severe weather has crippled parts of Colorado, dumping waist-deep hail and damaging several homes. Image from the National Weather Service
BERTHOUD, Colo., June 6 (UPI) -- Grapefruit-sized hail, tornadoes and torrential rain ripped across parts of Colorado late Friday, damaging homes, dumping more than four feet of ice in one area and opening a massive sink hole that swallowed a police SUV.
No serious injuries were reported early Saturday, but the National Weather Service said more storms and flooding are on the way for parts of Colorado. Victims from a tornado that struck Berthoud, Colo. on Thursday, which damaged up to 25 homes, were worried about expected storms Saturday. Seven tornadoes struck Colorado, the National Weather Service said.
"There's no roof on it, so we put a tarp on it the best we could -- this whole section of it -- just to keep it dry," local resident Alvin Allmendinger said of his house, which is a total loss. "And then it's all coming again this weekend," he said. "See lightning is already starting to come in over there."
In another part of Denver, up to 4 feet of hail buried streets, burying cars and filling more than 30 dump trucks with ice.
"We were scared. Oh, my God, it was so weird," said local resident Belen Gonzalez, 42. "We don't understand why it happened only on this street. My husband said it was someone's enormous prank."
About 60 miles north, a police SUV was swallowed into a huge sinkhole after torrential rains overwhelmed a storm drain, causing an underground pipe to burst. Sheridan police sergeant Greg Miller said the road gave way underneath his vehicle. He wasn't injured but the SUV was destroyed.
"The door wouldn't open, so I had to crawl through the window," Miller told 9News. "I reached up, grabbed the rails at the top of the roof, pulled myself up, got on top of the car, and that's when I reached up and pulled myself up out of the hole."
The National Weather Service said more storms are expected Saturday into Sunday.
"Another round of thunderstorms can be expected today, first developing in the mountains later this morning and then spreading east across the plains by afternoon," said the National Weather Service. "A few severe storms can be expected again on the plains, with large hail and damaging winds the primary threats. While wind shear is a little weaker in the low levels, there will still be a risk of tornadoes."
