HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – A portion of the roof was torn off of Northridge Elementary School in Highlands Ranch on Thursday, as an estimated EF-1 tornado ripped through the area.
Dozens of roof panels were blown off of the northwest corner of the building. Aerial footage from Airtracker7 showed several of those panels strewn about on the ground below.
Northridge is located on Southpark Road in central Highlands Ranch. It sits square in line with the National Weather Service’s estimated damage path from the tornado – a 6.3-mile stretch that started just to the east of the Highlands Ranch Golf Club and stretched directly eastward before taking a southeasterly turn near University Boulevard.
The school said in a message to parents that the “building and grounds have been severely impacted” and that there was no timetable for repairs.
The school was hosting a day camp for kids, which it moved to a nearby school starting next week.
Thursday evening, the National Weather Service in Boulder preliminarily rated the tornado as an EF-1 based upon early analysis of damage. The Enhanced Fujita Scale ranking puts the wind gusts between 86 and 110 mph, according to the NWS.
Storm damage was also reported in other parts of the Denver metro and Front Range after another round of severe weather dropped large hail and damaging winds.
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