Tornado cleanup continues, only one injury reported

The majority of stores at the Southlands Mall in southeast Aurora were still closed Monday, one day after a tornado tore a path of destruction through the shopping center and caused minor damage in surrounding neighborhoods.

The Aurora Fire Department says one man suffered serious injuries while trying to photograph the twister, which swept through south metro communities shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday. It was the only reported injury from the severe weather, which spawned five tornadoes in the north and south suburbs and eastern plains.

The Weather Service says the tornado that damaged Southlands Mall touched down south of Buckley Air Force Base at 1:49 p.m. and may have been on the ground for about 30 minutes, going on an 8- to 10-mile path across southeast Aurora.

Another tornado was reported 6 miles east of Lafayette; one south of Bennett; one south of Deer Trail; and one north of Byers.

Many spots in the Denver area also were pelted with hail, some as big as baseballs.

At Southlands Mall, several store fronts had blown-out windows and debris from the Lowes hardware supply store was scattered throughout the mall complex and parking lot.

"Insulation was all over the place... There's light poles (uprooted) and parts of the roof wrapped around light poles," said Arthur Chavez who was in Lowes when the storm hit. His back car window was smashed by the hail.

Some customers took cover inside the mall's designated tornado shelters. Others were evacuated through emergency exits after the immediate threat had passed, witnesses said.

Mike Hawkins, an employee at Lowes, described the scene to FOX 31. "We were inside (Lowes) and we saw a funnel cloud coming... All of a sudden the trees started bending in the parking lot and we saw the winds in a circular motion." Employees moved the customers to the center of the store when the cieling started moving and products were knocked off shelves.

Main Street and the Power Center will stay closed indefinitely, while some of the perimeter stores hoped open at some point Monday. A Lowe's home improvement store may not be able to open for up to two weeks as it undergoes repairs from the tornado.

Damage was estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars. Xcel Energy also confirmed that storm damage caused a natural gas leak at the mall, but the threat was quickly contained.

Several homes in the south metro area sustained moderate damage as marble to golf ball-sized hail fell across the region and winds sent debris flying through windows.

"You felt the pressure change... and then it went crazy, debris flying everywhere," said homeowner Mike Hawkins, who lived through the Park Hill tornadoes in Denver almost 2 decades ago.

The tornadoes were photographed, and videotaped, by thousands of Front Range residents.

The storms moved rapidly to the east, prompting Tornado Warnings for the plains late into the afternoon.

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