Storm knocks out power, topples trees in Colorado Springs Thursday night
Christian Murdock, The Gazette
High winds toppled trees and wires Thursday night, knocking out power to hundreds of homes on the southeast side of Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak Avenue and South Academy Boulevard, according to Colorado Springs Utilities.
Neighbors reported that fallen trees also damaged houses and cars.
Kari McArthur said she was cooking dinner while her husband and two young daughters were in the living room at the front of the house when the wind started to pick up and a sudden downpour hammered her home.
“The outside looked completely white. We couldn’t see anything out of our front window,” she said.
She turned off the kitchen stove, and her family rushed down to the basement, just barely making it to the steps before the power shut off.
Minutes later, the sudden surge had stopped, leaving behind a path of carnage that seemed to be in a straight line just outside their home.
Two of their “massive” trees had toppled over, the one in their backyard hitting a power line, McArthur said. The other had crushed their neighbor’s house.
Fallen trees were scattered at the bottom of a hill on Fairmont Street north of Michigan Avenue. Some hit houses; others hit cars.
After going outside, McArthur’s husband, Keegan, said he saw clouds circling overtop.
“I was definitely scared because my daughters were right there, and if the tree landed a little further over — I don’t even want to think about what could have happened,” McArthur said. “It’s pretty crazy how strong the wind can be.”
Makoto Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the area had a “very strong” storm from about 5:30-6:30 p.m. Sensors picked up about 45 mph wind gusts in the area, which he noted aren’t typically strong enough on their own to knock over trees.
“(But) if it’s hitting them the right way, their root system isn’t strong enough and the ground is saturated from multiple days of rain, the potential is there to do some damage,” he said.
Colorado Springs Utilities was on scene, restoring service for half of the affected customers by midnight and the other 150 by 2 a.m., said Alex Trefry, a spokesperson for the utility.
“In general, we continuously monitor weather conditions to make sure we’re fully responding to any outages or service incidents. We are always on standby, ready to respond at a moment’s notice,” Trefry said.
Colorado Springs has recorded 2.05 inches of rain at its official measuring station — the Colorado Springs Airport — over the past four days, according to data from the National Weather Service. Precipitation over the past week has eclipsed the monthly average of 2.96 inches.
Thursday’s storm was the latest in a series of violent weather over the past week.
Persistent rain along U.S. 24 prompted emergency repairs to fix erosion under the roadway near Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs Wednesday. Happening the same day, a rockslide in the city crushed two cars in the 100 block of Lovers Lane, city officials announced.
On Tuesday, County Line Road between Palmer Lake and the community of Woodmoor closed after rain washed out a section of the road. The county said Tuesday that repairs would last three days dependent on weather.
Two vehicles were crushed in a rockslide in Manitou Springs on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.
