Jeff Ruden had just pulled into his garage on Thursday afternoon when he received the warning: a tornado had been spotted over Highlands Ranch.
Less than 10 minutes later, the hail started. And after the raging wind ripped the first tree out of the ground, Ruden and his family crouch in their basement for shelter.
“You felt the whole house shake, your ears popped, you knew something came up,” he said. “We were literally in the direct line of what came through. I have six 20 year old trees standing on the ground. There is no more shadow in front of the house.”
By Friday morning, Ruden was among residents working to repair the damage and clean up debris scattered along the tornado’s 8.36-mile path through Highlands Ranch and into Lone Tree — trees uprooted, windows broken , roofs and siding beaten up by the hail.
No one was seriously injured by the tornado, which touched down at 3:24 p.m. and remained grounded for 26 minutes, according to the National Weather Service. At that time, it traveled more than 8 miles – about 2 miles more than the weather service initially estimated.
Meteorologists gave the tornado a rating of EF-1, with top winds of 105 mph. NWS officials also said it’s likely straight-line winds knocked down trees about a mile south of the tornado’s path.
“It was surreal to come out and see the aftermath,” said Ruden. “I grew up in Iowa, so this was nothing new. But having been in Colorado for over 20 years, I don’t think I ever expected a tornado in Highlands Ranch. Now it is a matter of cleaning up.”
Looking around White Bay Drive and the rest of his neighborhood, Ruden said his home was in the direct line of Thursday afternoon’s tornado. With six uprooted trees in his yard, he enlisted the help of a group of landscaping friends to break down the fallen trees and transport them to landfills.
Just two miles away, in the Brookfield neighborhood, the Sheets family began repairs on their own aftermath of the tornado.
Randy Sheets and his wife were at work when the storm peaked Thursday — and when the 100-foot poplar tree in their front yard crashed through their home.
“It came in through the living room, took out some windows, and now the right side of the house is slowly coming down,” Sheets said. “We’re talking to insurance to find out what we can clean up now and what we need to postpone.”
Sheets said the tree also destroyed his brother’s upstairs room, though luckily they have a spare bedroom for him to sleep in. The rest of the house was relatively undamaged.
Friends and family reached out after the storm, seeking help, and the group planned to tackle whatever debris they can carry off the property while waiting for an answer from the insurance company.
However, that may not be their only wait. Tree removal companies across the area have been fully booked for weeks now.
“Usually we’re on the road for about a week on jobs we need to get done,” says Alex Loula, supervisor at SavATree. “As of this morning, when we came in, the jobs they had already called in had us three to four weeks off. We have about four times as much work as normal, and that is just storm damage, not even regular tree work.”
The Kims, who hired Loula to remove two trees late Friday morning, were able to call the night before and have the service booked for the following day.
“We were just going through a list of companies until we came across one that would answer,” said Ho Kim. “They called us back at 9 a.m. and luckily there was already a crew down the street working.”
Compared to other families around them in the Eastridge Terrace neighborhood, damage to the Kims’ home was minimal.
Ho Kim’s wife, Susan, said there were several pieces of the backyard fencing down and possible damage to the roof and siding from the hail, but there was no major structural damage to the house.
“We’re taking it one step at a time,” Susan Kim said. “Now it’s the trees, then we call the fence people, the insurance company, the painters. I’m just thankful it wasn’t worse.”
Outside the neighborhood, Douglas County crews continued Friday to remove tree debris from sidewalks and main streets, starting with the hardest hit area between Highlands Ranch Parkway and C-470 and from Broadway to Colorado Boulevard.
According to a Friday press release, teams evaluate every street in Highlands Ranch. They ask local residents to report damaged road signs and downed traffic lights online.
Broken, crooked and crashed street lamps should be reported to Xcel Energyaccording to the Highlands Ranch Metro District.
The company has already received more than 50 reports of damaged light towers and began removing them on Friday, Sturgeon Electric foreman Tom Johnson said.
Johnson said he is unsure when the removed street lights will be replaced.
“The province has one disaster report to open the door to state aid,” Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon said Friday press release. “In the meantime, we’re working with the Highlands Ranch community to provide tree litter drop-off sites.”
All debris larger than a typical trash can load must go to the return locations at Highland Heritage Park at 9651 S. Quebec St. and Redstone Park at 3280 Redstone Park Circle. The Highlands Ranch Metro District does not allow fencing at either location.
The drop-off sites opened Friday morning and will remain open indefinitely.
Redstone Park is open from 5am to 11pm and Highland Heritage Park is open from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.
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