A dangerous wind storm blew across southern Colorado today. You can watch here on the First Alert 5 Weather stream, which can be viewed on the KOAA News5 app.
Damaging winds have been blowing across southern Colorado since before the sun came up this morning. We've seen reports of 70 mph along I-25 from Pueblo to Trinidad and even stronger winds across the plains. La Junta clocked an 86 mph wind report around 8 am this morning and Lamar hit 107 mph about an hour later!
Need to Know:
- Colorado Springs Utilities: 15,935 customers are without power
- Black Hills Utilities: 3,972 are without power, crews expected to work throughout the night
- A warming and overnight shelter is available at First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave. Volunteers are present and will have emergency supplies, food and water.
- Mountain Metro suspending service
- As of 10 p.m. high wind restrictions were still in place for all high profile and light vehicles on the following roads:
- I-25 in both directions at mile point 0 to 116 (New Mexico/Colorado border to El Paso/Pueblo county line)
- In a 5 hour period, the Colorado Springs Fire Department had 635 calls for service.
5:20 PM: A warming shelter is available at First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave. Please note this is a warming shelters and not equipped for overnight lodging/sleeping.
3:25 PM: Highway 50 in Canon City is back open.
3:00 PM: D11 schools and buildings to be on a SECURE status until further notice. This means all students and staff members need to stay inside their building, lock outside doors, and conduct instruction as usual until dismissal.
2:05 PM: Penrose Hospital is experiencing intermittent power outages. The hospital is running on generators and crews are trying to fix it. Some procedures and the release of some patients are being delayed.
2:05 PM: Colorado Springs Fire Department is on the scene of a large gas line break at the Chapel Hills Mall. The mall is being evacuated. AVOID THE AREA
News5 has a crew at the scene working to gather more information on this incident.
2:00 PM: Academy School District 20 and District 49 will not be offering bus service this afternoon, parents or guardians will have to arrange a way to get their children home.
1:50 PM More flights at Colorado Springs are now canceled.
MORE FLIGHTS CANCELLED AT SPRINGS AIRPORT: If you plan on flying out to Vegas or Phoenix with Southwest Airlines, or expecting an arrival from Dallas with Southwest, those flights have been cancelled. The people in the pic waiting in line had their flights cancelled. @KOAA pic.twitter.com/Vfd1Qoulwr
— Carl Winder KOAA (@CWinderKOAA) December 15, 2021
1:45 PM: Highway 50 is now closed in Canon City at 15th Street due to downed power lines and a street light blown down.
1:40 PM: Colorado Springs Airport is now reporting 80-90 mph gusts. The airport has delayed or canceled a number of flights, if you're flying out today check your flight.
The National Weather Service extended its high wind and red flag warning for El Paso County and Colorado Springs through 5 PM today.
The City of Colorado Springs is asking residents to only call 911 for life-threatening emergencies, as the call centers are being inundated right now. For non-emergencies, please call CSPD's non-emergency line at 719-444-7000, or the appropriate agency's phone number.
1:10 PM: Colorado Springs Fire is working on multiple incidents throughout the city, please be aware of emergency vehicles responding to scenes.
1:00 PM: 2 semis have been tipped over at I-25 Southbound at Academy. This is just one of many overturned trucks on I-25 from the New Mexico border to Denver. Be prepared for intermittent delays.
12:55 PM: Colorado Springs Utilities are estimating that about 20,000 people are without power in Colorado Springs right now. You can check the current map of outages in the area using Colorado Springs Utilities StormCenter page.
12:15 PM: 100 MPH WIND GUST IN MANITOU SPRINGS.
Some of the top wind reports in El Paso County. How about that 101 mph report in Manitou Springs? 92 mph at I-25 and Garden of the Gods Road is just as impressive pic.twitter.com/stHuNACY8D
— Sam Schreier (@SamASchreier) December 15, 2021
Some of the top gusts in southern Colorado SO FAR today. Damage is occurring, stay inside. #COwx pic.twitter.com/gW5Iz0f97U
— Alex O'Brien (@WXAlexOBrien) December 15, 2021
11:20 AM: Colorado State Patrol are telling people not to drive unless they absolutely have to.
This is not your average wind. This is push-you-out-of-your-lane-knock-your-vehicle-over kind of wind. Be prepared! pic.twitter.com/3YOUQQLRQ7
— Colorado State Patrol (@CSP_News) December 15, 2021
Resources:
- Your latest First Alert 5 Weather Forecast
- School closing and delay list
- DIA Delays / FlyCOS Delays
- Watch News5 LIVE newscasts
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