Colo. Weather Leaves Behind Destruction

Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the Front Range this week—battering cars and homes with golf ball and baseball-sized hail. Heavy rain and hail flooded streets and basements from Golden to Lakewood, to Metro and Southwest Denver.

And the worst of it came Wednesday night, when a tornado ripped through the town of Sterling. Insurance adjusters have been out assessing the damage, and several companies have already activated national catastrophe teams and are setting up emergency claims centers to help speed up the process. Claims calls continue to come in as residents observe property and vehicle damage.

“After several years of escaping with lighter hail seasons, this is a wake-up call that severe weather and hail season are in full swing in Colorado,” says Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. “We generally get 3-5 damaging hail storms during the peak months of June and July and they often are accompanied by flash flooding, high winds and tornadoes.”

In fact, while they don’t always touch down or hit heavily populated areas, during the past five years Colorado has averaged between 35-40 tornadoes each year.