Colorado was recovering Thursday from a powerful overnight storm that brought at least two reported tornadoes and pounded some areas with heavy rain and hail up to two inches in diameter.
Wind gusts of up to 111 mph were reported, bringing down trees and power lines near the town of Hugo in eastern Colorado, police said.
The wild weather was part of a dense pattern of severe thunderstorms that has seen destructive winds and tornado alerts right across the Plains, Midwest and Ohio Valley this week.
Scattered severe thunderstorms were forecast Thursday across a huge area stretching from the Colorado all the way to the Carolinas, the Weather Channel said.
The biggest threat of further damage was in a line from south-central Kansas through the Ozarks into parts of the Mid-South – including Wichita, Kansas; Joplin, Missouri; and Memphis, Tennessee.
In Hugo, Colorado there were minor injuries when a semi was blown over on a highway east of the town, according to Cpt. Clint Tweden of the Lincoln County Sheriff's department. Two people were taken to a local hospital but were treated and released, he said.
In the same area, a family barn collapsed, trapping two cars.
“We had people out with chainsaws helping to clear roadways,” Joy L. Hemby, chief marshal at the Hugo Marshal Office told Denver’s 9News.
Tornado sirens sounded as the severe weather moved into the area late Wednesday, moving east across Denver towards western Kansas.
One tornado was spotted near Hugo at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday local time (12.30 a.m. Thursday ET) and another was seen near Arriba 20 minutes later, 9News reported.
However, Hemby said neither of the tornado sightings had been confirmed.
Some areas, including Limon, Colorado were hammered by hailstones.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office lost power but said there were no reports of extensive damage, 9News reported.
