Whirlwind Effort

Colorado’s construction industry helps rebuild a devastated Windsor community

Nearly a year after a mile-wide tornado tore through the Northern Colorado community of Windsor, the town’s rebuilding is well along, thanks to the efforts and volunteerism of many in Colorado’s construction industry.

After a mile-wide tornado tore through Windsor last May, Jeff Bowman of Palace Construction stood with homeowners looking at what was left of their shredded homes and told them, “We’ll help you get back.”

As the one-year anniversary of the disaster nears, Bowman and hundreds of others from the construction industry have made good on that promise.

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Bowman, whose Denver-based company is part of a network that helps with emergencies, was one of the first people allowed into the heavily damaged areas around Windsor that had been closed off by the National Guard.

“The loss that homeowners feel doesn’t just come from damage to the house itself,” he says. “These houses aren’t just empty shells—people have memories in them. Add the fact that their personal effects have been literally blown away, and it’s a difficult loss.”

Bowman says one woman cried on his shoulder after seeing her home, which had sustained well over $150,000 in damage. The roof was off, the walls were gone and three interior areas were completely gutted.

“When you’re building something new, you’re dealing with people’s dreams,” he says. “You go in after something like this and you’re walking into their nightmares.”

The After Shock The tornado, which was on the ground nearly 30 minutes, damaged 24 commercial/industrial buildings and nearly 2,000 homes—418 of them to the point that they were uninhabitable. It tore the roofs off the new and old town halls and the city pool building.

Brian Schupbach, a project director with Interstate Restoration of Denver, which provided emergency power for the town just hours after the tornado hit and has been working in Windsor since, says. “When you first arrive at the scene of a disaster, you do whatever you can, within your job description—and outside of it.”

Interstate’s 50-plus employees on the scene secured buildings by boarding up windows, laying tarps and removing fallen branches from homes. They did whatever residents needed. Schupbach even went into an area not yet accessible to homeowners to get a woman’s medication and give her a report on the status of her house.

“She was so anxious about not knowing what shape her house was in,” he says. “I was glad to be able to ease her mind. You have to be aware that these people are going through an emotional process.”

In the weeks after the disaster, the construction industry continued to pitch in.

Photo courtesy of Interstate Restoration

Todd Ruff, a project manager with GH Phipps Construction Cos. of Greenwood Village, grew up in Windsor and wanted to find a way to help out his hometown.

“I approached management (at GH Phipps) and asked if we could volunteer to help the recovery, and they said, ‘absolutely,’” he says.

While much of the town’s damage was covered by insurance (the city had received nearly $3 million from insurance as of mid-February), the town also has paid nearly $1 million out of pocket to make repairs.

The town took Phipps up on its offer by putting the contractor to work repairing the ball fields at Chimney Park, where minimal insurance coverage paid for only a fraction of the repairs.

“The ball fields were right in the tornado’s path,” says Ruff, who played on those fields as a child. “The fence was blown away and debris made the field unplayable. It wasn’t a pressing issue, but repairing those fields is an important part of bringing normalcy back to the town.”

Stepping Up Ruff says he was impressed by the response of the construction industry.

Photo courtesy of Interstate Restoration

“Our subs were eager to get involved any way they could,” he adds. “It’s encouraging to see that despite the economic struggles facing the construction industry, people are still willing to step up to the plate the way they did.”

Volunteers are upgrading the concession stand, replacing the fence, putting in an infill mix that will mean fewer cancellations because of rain, and rebuilding the park’s landscaping.

“GH Phipps and Hensel Phelps, as representatives of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, have been instrumental in pulling together the numerous companies that have assisted Windsor with this important project,” says Melissa Chew, the town’s director of parks and recreation. “The town is looking forward to giving teams the home-field advantage again on May 22.”

Building permits have been issued for almost all of the commercial and industrial buildings damaged by the tornado, and they are in various stages of reconstruction. Eight of the projects have already received final inspection approval. Many of the battered businesses stayed open while rebuilding.

Repair and restoration of the new Town Hall, which was covered by insurance, was nearing completion in mid-February. The next phase is the remodel of the third floor of the Town Hall, which includes installation of an elevator.

Photo courtesy of Interstate Restoration

Windsor was awarded $859,402 of the original $1 million requested from the Department of Local Affairs Energy and Impact Grant’s fund for the Town Hall. The plan is to move forward with the entire project and try to cut costs wherever possible to make up the shortfall. The town also received an additional $47,200 in Supplemental Environmental Project funds from the Governor’s Energy Office, which will go toward energy efficiencies for the building.

The scope of the project has increased, says Dawn Jaegar, assistant to the town manager and the city’s tornado recovery contact. Instead of just repairing and remodeling the third floor and adding an elevator to the Town Hall, another phase was added to renovate the entire interior of the building.

The architect working on all phases of the Town Hall project is Justin Larson of JCL Architecture in Fort Collins.

Work will begin this summer on the old Town Hall, which has been renamed the Art and Heritage Center and was undergoing restoration at the time of the tornado. Work also is progressing on all but two of the homes structurally damaged by the tornado. The five homes Bowman worked on were completed within five months of the tornado.

“What was it like to go back after people were back in their houses? Well, you get a big hug—that sort of thing,” Bowman says. “You’re there for the devastation, so it’s nice to go back when they have their lives back together and feel like you were a part of that.”

The Aftermath

• The tornado that hit Windsor around lunch time on May 22, 2008, was nearly a mile wide and accompanied by baseball-sized hail.
• The tornado was fueled by EF3 winds with wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
• It followed a 35- to 37-mile northwesterly path, starting in southern Weld County and tearing through the heart of Windsor.
• Insurance estimates of the damage are $150 million.
• After the tornado, FEMA and volunteers identified approximately 418 homes that had significant structural damage.
• Individuals were eligible for FEMA assistance and municipalities were eligible for technical but not financial assistance.