Monday 1/9 boasted dangerous winds which wreaked havoc across Colorado Springs, bringing heavy damage, school closures, and general chaos. Sustained winds ranged from 30 to 50 mph, and a peak gust of 101 mph was recorded at Fort Carson.

The most impactful damage began at around 8:30 when a widespread power outage occurred affecting 16,000 Colorado Springs Utilities customers, including several Cheyenne Mountain schools, which went home early after the outage occurred. The utilities provider has stated they will work throughout the night to restore coverage, but because there are many downed poles and lines, full restoration did not occur until 1/10.

Because of Ft. Carson’s location, the wind has been particularly severe (a 101 mph gust serving as exemplification), and caused a shelter in place state of emergency, encouraging servicemen to stay inside and avoid windows. Vehicle damage also occurred, including a blown over semi-truck and bus, but fortunately none were injured.

As many Coronado students are painfully aware, bus service was suspended throughout Districts 11 and 49, because of a high profile vehicle ban instituted by the Colorado Department of Transportation and Colorado State Patrol in a tweet at about 11 A.M.: “All [commercial Motor Vehicles] prohibited in 1-25 [between] Monument & NM state line, high profile vehicles should also not proceed, wind gusts near 80 mph, numerous blow.”

Students at Rampart High School made the best of a dire situation, as 11th grade student Gracie Packard recounts: “in my first period class we heard a huge crash and in about 5 minutes we got an announcement stating the school was in a shelter in place. We were soon told this was because the wind pressure has been so strong that it had shattered three of our ‘sky windows’ (huge floor to ceiling windows connecting our two buildings). As we waited in shelter in place, 15 cars in the parking lot’s windows shattered. We sheltered in place until 1:30, during which they delivered pizza and some classes did Zumba and others watched movies.”

Downtown, disaster struck the El Paso County Courthouse, as a large portion of the roof was ripped off by the wind, evacuating the building and forcing Coronado’s Mock Trial team to relocate until damages are repaired. The damage caused all operations at the courthouse to be postponed until 1 P.M. on Tuesday, and closed down the surrounding area, as flying debris posed a threat to pedestrians and the parked cars on the street below.

Throughout the city, scores of trees were felled. Downtown by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, a large oak fell directly onto a parked car, totaling it. At the Roy J. Wasson Academic Campus a tree fell onto two girls, neither were seriously injured, but one did have to visit the emergency room. A massive pine fell onto Coronado’s bus loop, and would have certainly caused problems had the buses driven as scheduled.

The wind was chaotic and damaging all across our city, but fortunately no major injuries were reported. Property damage was extensive, but for the majority of people cleanup will only consist of clearing debris from the yard, repairing a fence, and maybe some roof work. Do your community a favor and lend a hand where you can, it’s the best way to help our community heal from a hectic day, and that’s what we all need.