COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Damage could be found throughout the city of Colorado Springs after strong winds blew through late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
The strong winds didn't just bring down a few branches, but entire trees, damaging homes and cars. In all, seven city trees fell in the city, and the city received 30 calls for service.
Many homeowners reported uprooted trees and power outages.
"I hate wind. It makes me so nervous," Pam Marsh, who had a large evergreen fall down in her yard, said.
She said the wind uprooted the tree early Sunday morning.
"Just a big thump you know," she said. "But big. Crash sounding, because it fell against the fence."
She said she has seen winds like these before.
"I grew up in this house, and I remember when I was a child that my parents lost several trees in a January storm, and I remember also just about this time of year in the '80s that my next door neighbors here lost two or three trees," Marsh said.
Scenes like the one in Marsh's yard could be found all over southern Colorado.
In Old Colorado City Viola Griffey was sleeping when a tree fell on her house, right above her bed.
"I woke up then," she said. "I've been awake ever since then."
Griffey wasn't injured, but there was extensive damage to her home, and the whole situation left her frightened.
"I think I'm now just getting to where it's scaring me," Griffey said.
She said her neighbors have been great, offering help and support.
The wind also brought down power lines, knocking out power for hundreds of people.
"The older homes that have the wires that are actually connecting homes, those are really the ones that are hurting the most," Gabriel Romero, a spokesperson for Colorado Springs Utilities, said. "You also have mature trees that are higher than the wires, so when they fall, they fall, hit wires, power goes out. So you're definitely more prone to an outage if that's the situation that you're in.:
Colorado Springs Utilities called in extra crews and said they would work nonstop until all the power was restored.
"It's just been one of those crazy crazy days," Romero said. "It hasn't been this bad in many years."
Romero estimated that between 200 and 300 people lost power due to the wind and said the outages were scattered throughout the city.
For many residents it's now a process of cleaning up and rebuilding.
"Branches have fallen off of the tree before, but it's never been the whole tree," Griffey said.
Marsh said it's something she knows she has to deal with.
"When you have beautiful trees like that you just sort of have to live with it," Marsh said. "And we hope they don't crash into the house."
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Original Story:
Many Colorado Springs residents woke up to a mess Sunday morning, after strong overnight winds knocked down trees across the city.
Several homeowners reported that branches, and in some cases entire trees, fell onto their homes and cars.
Power outages were also a problem, as many residents were without power overnight and through the morning.
Meteorologist Matthew Kruger says the overnight winds were the result of a mountain wave setting up over Colorado. Wind gusts were over 70 mph from the Air Force Academy down through Manitou Springs. Winds switched to a strong northerly direction with the passage of a strong cold front in the afternoon which brought squalls and even some blowing dust. However, the front also brought some light precipitation.
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For the latest on the wind tune into FOX21 News at 9 for Matthew Kruger's complete forecast.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM