Storms hammer area crops, take down utility poles

    Northeastern Colorado, including Phillips County and the city of Holyoke, just west of Chase County, were walloped last week by bad weather.
    So much so that fields of crops were destroyed, or nearly destroyed, and houses and other structures severally damaged.
    “It was devastating for the crops, especially south and east of Holyoke,” said Perry Campbell from CHS-High Plains in Amherst.
    “Many of the fields will probably be zeroed out.”
    Areas south of Enders also suffered damage, including 50 downed utility power poles.
    According to the Boulder National Weather Service’s website, very large hail stretched over a wide swath of northeast Colorado June 27 and 28.
    Hail measuring 2.5 to 4 inches in diameter hit an area from Fort Morgan to Akron to Otis. In addition, very large hail occurred over portions of Logan and Phillips counties,  according to the outlet’s website.
    Campbell said it was the combination of the wind and the hail that was the most devastating to crops.  
    At times small, pea-sized hail, and upwards of 1.5” in diameter hail, driven by 80-plus mile-per-hour winds, were too much for crops to handle, he said.
    “The crops in many areas were just shredded,” he said.
    He said crops in their final stages of development, especially wheat, will not come out of the damage, while some of the corn fields might.
    “We won’t know for more than a couple of weeks if the corn will come out of this, but the sugar beets will most likely come back,” he said.
    “There are a lot of farmers down in the dumps, that’s for sure.”
    According to Jason Frost of CHS-High Plains in Holyoke, the wind gusts were extremely bad at times, with some of his customers saying they believe what they experienced was a micro or macro burst. The difference between the two is the area that is covered by the weather event, according to the National Weather’s Website.
    A macro or micro-burst is a localized column of sinking air (downdraft) within a thunderstorm that can cause extensive damage at the surface, and in some instances, can be life-threatening. Wind speeds in a macro or microburst can reach up to 100 mph, or even higher, which is equivalent to an EF-1 tornado, according to the website.
    Neither Campbell nor Frost knew exactly how many acres of crops were affected in the weather event when contacted late on Friday, but both thought they would have a better idea later this week.
    Information on damage to homes and businesses in the Holyoke area was not available at press time.
Downed poles an issue
    Early June 29, just after midnight, Southwest Public Power District, headquartered in Palisade, learned of more than 50 power poles knocked over from wind in Hitchcock and Dundy counties.
    Colyn Suda, SWPPD General Manager, said 19 of the poles damaged were along Highway 61 from Enders south.
    Extensive rain and hail were contributing factors, he said. There have been reports of crop and livestock damage as well, he noted.
    Available SWPPD crews responded to various locations throughout northern Hitchcock County and all of Dundy County, he said. The damage was spread out sporadically where crews found downed poles of seven here, 11 there and five somewhere else, he added.
    “We did ask for mutual aid assistance from the McCook Public Power District on the transmission restoration Thursday, and we are thankful for their assistance,” he said.
    “Our crews put in a long day yesterday and again Friday to get things up and running. I’m very proud of our employees’ response to this event,” Suda said.