ELBERT COUNTY, Colo. — Residents in the Elkhorn Ranch neighborhood in Elbert County were busy boarding up blown-out windows and cleaning debris from their properties one day after a tornado hit the area.
Greg and Jenny Torfin are just a couple of the homeowners in the neighborhood whose home was partially destroyed Sunday. They have lived in the Elkhorn Ranch neighborhood since 2006.
"I wasn't even in town," said Greg Torfin. "We were at a Dodgers game in Los Angeles, and got the call from the Elbert County sheriff and our neighbors immediately, and they asked if anybody's in the home, and we said we only had two dogs in the home, and so we told them they can just get in any way you want to get the dogs out."
The Torfins' neighbor, Olga Peredereez, helped rescue the two dogs.
"She goes, 'Oh, honey, you're not home?' And I said, 'No, I'm in LA right now.' Then she gave me the story about there was a tornado, and I like fell to the ground thinking of my dog's first thing," Jenny Torfin said.
"We get in the house with a first responder to rescue the pups, and thank God they were safe," Peredereez told Denver7. "They were not hurt. They did have to break a window to get in."
By midday Monday, the Torfins had already boarded up most of the blown-out windows. The collapsed barn in their backyard sat with debris piled up and a large part of its roof covered.
"So there's a few things covered in debris right now," Greg Torfin said. "Actually, the top half of the structure in the backside lifted up, so the whole second floor lifted up. So we may have to just start over from the second floor, but you're seemingly in good spirits."
Both Greg and his wife told Denver7 they were relieved no one in the neighborhood was seriously injured.
"It's just things. It's just material things. We're all healthy and happy," Torfin said.
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Elbert County Commissioner Byron McDaniel was among the first to drive to the neighborhood after he saw the tornado touchdown.
"You could see damage immediately. The tornado crossed over into Arapahoe County. [At] that point, emergency services came out," McDaniel said. "We had the Elbert County Sheriff's Office, Rattlesnake Fire Department, Elizabeth Fire Department, our office of emergency management responded out here."
McDaniel said he signed an emergency declaration for the county on Monday to help with rebuilding.
"This is not something that we normally see in Elbert County, so it's highly unusual for this area," he said.
Despite that, the commissioner made it clear the community is tight-knit, and county officials would be at the helm of helping in any way they can.
"It's Elbert County. This is the way it is in Elbert County, people take care of each other, look out for each other," he said.
