Year of the tornado

Monster tornado hits Colorado
In Northern Colorado, they get thunderstorms all the time -- but tornadoes?

At about 11:30 in the morning on May 22, KUSA reporter Adam Chodak and photographer Gary Wolfe had heard about a tornado.

Gary Wolfe: We’re coming up this hill, and we could see in the distance this dark thing coming down. Like a downpour. And I said, "Is that it?"

Then they took a closer look.

Adam Chodak: That wall of clouds was actually touching the ground. And that's when we realized this is pretty serious.

It was serious. It's called a wedge tornado. Not a classic shape, but inside that cloud of debris were EF-4 winds of up to 200 miles per hour.

Cameraman: This thing is heading right towards us. Holy sh---!

Cameraman Gary Wolfe took pictures from the back of the truck.

Gary Wolfe: The wind started coming in from right behind me. It was sucking the air really hard.

Gary Wolfe: I basically was just hanging onto the tripod so the camera wouldn't call over.

The storm brought with it giant hailstones.

Adam Chodak: Then... bam... the windshield cracked from one of the pieces of hail.

At about 11:45, the edge of the storm passed right over them. By noon, Chodak was on the air.

Adam Chodak: The storm passed right over highway 34...

But the tornado was still on the move. It ripped through a golf community. The hail hit the lake, looking like thousands of bad golfers at a water hazard.

These extraordinary photos from Windsor, Colo., show the storm changing from beautiful to sinister in moments as it approached the Windmill Day Care Center, seen at the left.

More than 100 children and their teachers were inside.

Andrea Machacek was anxiously watching the tornado reports on TV. Her 5-year-old daughter and toddler son were in the Windmill Day Care Center. And her 12-year-old daughter was also at school near by.

Andrea Machacek: I could see it. I could see the map. And thought: that tornado is going for windmill.

And then it hit. A few minutes later, the KUSA news team drove into town.

Adam Chodak: And the first thing I saw was the playground and one of the tarps was just whipping in the wind.

Gary Wolfe: And all the cars in the parking lot were spun around, it was like woah!

Andrea Machacek: And now, I'm thinking I just have go get to my kids.

Andrea was at work in the next town when she heard the news that a school had been hit.

Andrea Machacek: One of my co-workers was crying because she also has a daughter that goes to Windmill. So, I immediately said, "I’m driving, let's go."

Fearing the worst, Machacek drove frantically until she saw the day care center's green roof as she crested the hill.

Andrea Machacek: And as soon as I saw that the roof was intact, I felt relief.

But then she saw the parking lot.

It looked like a bomb had gone off.

Andrea Machacek: I started running towards the daycare and a man jumped in front and said, "They're not there. They’re in the bank.”

But were her children OK? Did everyone survive?

About an hour before, the day center director, Kristi Bernhardt had heard the warnings, too.

Adam Chodak: This is just some of what we had to deal with.

And, as the storm barreled toward her, she had just one thought.

Kristi Bernhardt: I'm responsible for 150 people and how are we going to get them all safely through this.

She quickly told her staff to hunker down with the children in offices and closets.

Teacher Angi Ruiz was in a bathroom.

Angi Ruiz: This is where we brought the kids. We had 21 kids and 4 teachers.

And she was also worried about her own 5-year-old daughter, who was somewhere else in the building.

Josh Mankiewicz, Dateline NBC: Yeah? What did your teacher do?

Alyshia Ruiz: She started yelling at everybody to put their heads down.

Teacher Chreisha Scheid rushed to this storage closet with four infants crammed into a single crib. Moments later, the tornado hit the building.

Chreisha Scheid: And all I heard was screaming in the background and stuff just shattering, glass breaking, stuff hitting the building. I heard one of the directors say "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."

And then -- silence.

Angi Ruiz: I then yelled out the door. Where is my daughter? Is Elysi OK?

Miraculously, all the children and their teachers survived with only minor injuries.

Adam Chodak: The wind is still kicking in this area...

Frantic parents arrived to pick up their shaken children.

Among those anxious parents was Andrea Machacek.

Andrea Machacek: And I was crying. And I think I made them cry then, at that point. I was shaking so bad I couldn't--my fingers and toes were shaking. (Laughs) it was unbelievable.

All the cell phone service was down.

Machacek's older daughter, Alexa, was at a school that wasn't hit by the tornado. She didn't find out until hours later that her sister and brother were OK.

Alexa Machacek: It was scary not being able to know where anybody was.

And it all hit her the next day, when she and her family drove through town.

Alexa Machacek: And just seeing all the houses down, and ruined like that (holds back tears).

The damage here is not just in the buildings.

Aleisha Ruiz: I just hope that there’s never another tornado.

It's in the eyes of children who are now scared of the wind.

And in the minds of parents as they realize their lives could have changed in an instant.

Before the tornado, the Machaceks were trying to sell their home to be closer to Denver. Now...

Andrea Machacek: I really don't want to go. I want to stay. And I think I found new friends. It’s odd but, you know, in people that I’ve never even spoken to before. It’s just-- it brought everybody closer together.

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