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Massive storm leaves 4 dead

The storm spawns dozens of tornadoes in the Rockies and Plains.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 30, 2007

HOLLY, Colo. - A massive spring storm spawned dozens of tornadoes from the Rockies to the Plains, killing at least four people in three states, including a woman who was flung into a tree by a twister as wide as two football fields.

Sixty-five tornadoes were reported late Wednesday in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska, the National Weather Service said. The storms continued Thursday afternoon, with a tornado injuring at least four people in Oklahoma City.

In Colorado, Rosemary Rosales, 28, died after being found critically injured in a tree after the tornado destroyed several homes and damaged dozens of others in Holly, a town of 1,000 people about 235 miles southeast of Denver near the Kansas line.

Victoria Rosales said her sister and the woman's husband, Gustavo Puga, were in the kitchen and their 3-year-old daughter, Noelia, was sleeping in a front room when the tornado hit.

Neighbors and residents from surrounding towns comforted each other Thursday as they began cleaning up from Colorado's first fatal tornado since 1960.

As residents sifted through their scattered belongings, the streets were littered with utility poles, power lines, tree limbs and other debris. One woman whose house was destroyed wept as she searched for a wedding ring.

In Oklahoma, Vance and Barbra Woodbury were killed when the storm blew apart their home near the Panhandle community of Elmwood.

In Texas, Monte Ford was killed near Amarillo when he was thrown about 15 feet from his oilfield trailer, which was rolled by the wind.

The storm system dumped snow on Wyoming, causing highway pileups and closing large portions of three interstates. In the Wind River Mountains, 58 inches of snow had fallen by Thursday morning.

[Last modified March 30, 2007, 01:13:52]