The National Weather Service in Pueblo has confirmed a fifth tornado struck sometime after 2 a.m. Friday in Bent County, destroying a house and crushing a metal barn, officials say.
A 300-yard-wide tornado with wind speeds of up to 135 mph struck in the far northeast corner of Bent County sometime after 2 a.m., said Tom Magnuson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pueblo.
Four other tornadoes spawned by the same powerful storm destroyed homes in Prowers and Kiowa counties, injuring at least four people but none seriously.
Electricity was restored to Lamar, a city of 8,000 residents, just after 6 p.m. Friday.
Staffon Warn, emergency manager for Prowers County, said a tornado ripped through the eastern edge of town, coming within a mile of the hospital.
"The city of Lamar dodged a bullet that could have been very devastating," Warn said.
