July 20th & 21st, 2009 ~ An unexpeted line of severe thunderstorms formed over the foothills and traveled southeast over the metro area. Once the stoms reached the Wheat Ridge area a tornado warning was issued. Funnel clouds with power flashes were reported along with damaging straight line winds, heavy rain, lightning and large ammounts of hail. Numerous reports of powerlines down, uprooted trees, broken windows, lighting strikes and stranded vehicles flooded local 911 centers. Hundrerds of homes sustained minor to moderate damage due to a mix of straight line winds and possibly tornado winds. Arvada, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge were hit the hardest with debris covered roads, natural gas leaks and a large power outage. Denver Fire ran several vehicles stranded in high water near Colfax and Monaco, no injures were reported there. The roof of a commercial building collapsed on Titan Court near Louvires as well as Brighton Fire Station 51; both with no injuries. Brief tornadoes were verified by trained National Weather Service Spotters both in Englewood and Castle Rock. Hundreds of incidents were handled by every local agency, West Metro responded to over 130 calls between 22:30 & 01:30 with their CAD system down.
Above photo taken near 23rd & Nelson where a tree was driven through the roof of a single family home. Rod Blakney Photo
