'It Was Craziness': Keenesburg Man Deals With Storm Damage At Home And Work

KEENESBURG, Colo. (CBS4) -- John Wilson is a clerk for the Shell gas station in Keenesburg, right next to Interstate 76. He was awake at 3 a.m. Friday at home and getting ready to open the store two hours later.

That's when the storm hit.

"I see the storm coming, and it's like green lightning coming down," Wilson told CBS4.

He didn't think too much of it. After all, severe storms are regular visitors to Colorado's eastern plains.

This one, however, made a severe impression.

"All of the sudden, you could hear the sound of trees breaking. Water was flying into the house" through the screen door and open windows, Wilson said. "We had pictures flying off the wall. It was craziness."

Then he heard the freight train sound, and it was not coming from the railroad tracks that run through the middle of the town.

"I didn't see anything coming down like a tornado, but it sounded like one," he said. "I'm from Oklahoma. I know that sound. Know it well."

He retreated to the basement with his roommates and waited for it to subside.

When it did, he reported to work. The gas station was damaged, but not terribly. Operations were normal thanks to the emergency generator. The rest of the town, Wilson said, was without power.

"It was one of the only places that had lights," he said.

Many people showed up to re-supply today. Food and drink, ice, and gasoline were in demand. So was conversation.

At the end of his shift, he returned home and discovered why he had heard trees breaking earlier. The tree in their front yard was down. Part of it, he said, flew over his house and the fire training center next door. It landed 50 yards away - on a battalion chief's vehicle.

Plus, when Wilson's family retreated to the basement this morning, they forgot to take a pet downstairs, too. They're paying for that now.

"The parrot was talking all about it," he said. "We're in trouble with the bird."