Weekend windstorm rattles Laramie County

Cheyenne Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Don Wood led teams of firefighters this weekend. He said they received 50 calls on Saturday alone.

“I do know that there was a couple of points in time that every single unit was responding to calls in the city,” Wood said. “It was definitely a stretch for resources.”

Laramie County Fire Authority responded to 10 wind-related calls this weekend, including power lines down, roofs blowing off, semi-trucks blown over and carbon monoxide alarms.

Hayden Humphrey, vice president of field operations for Capitol Roofing, estimated his company received around 40 or 50 calls for roof repairs over the weekend, and he anticipates more to come.

“Most of the calls that we’ve been getting have just been from residential customers with shingles blowing off,” Humphrey said. “A lot of it is just going to be small repair work in vulnerable areas on the roof — around the perimeter and at the peak of each roof — but there’s probably going to be several insurance wind claims.”

He said he has never seen anything like this past weekend’s windstorm in his eight years in the roofing business. Sometimes the roof damage isn’t visible, Humphrey said. He recommended having a roof inspection before filing for an insurance claim to identify if there is any damage.

“A lot of the time, wind damage on roofs isn’t shingles actually blowing off. It’s just the shingles blowing up and creasing, and then they fall back down. So, from the ground, you can’t notice whether or not you have damage.”

Black Hills Energy also had a busy weekend, as crews responded to downed power lines.

Company officials told the WTE that, overall, Black Hills Energy’s electric system in Cheyenne received no major damage to infrastructure, and only experienced minimal outages of short duration for customers. Electric crews spent Sunday clearing debris and tree limbs from lines, as well as replacing a few power poles.

Black Hills Energy encourages customers to go online to their Black Hills Energy account and “opt in” to texts and emails from the company to provide the most current information and safety tips during storms.

Wood said that CFR could barely get in touch with Black Hills Energy to report downed power lines and sometimes had to wait on hold for half an hour — in part because of the duration of this windstorm.

National Weather Service Cheyenne lead meteorologist Aaron Woodward said they recorded 15 hours that met “high wind” criteria. According to the NWS, “high winds” are winds 40 mph or greater for better than one hour, and/or wind gusts 58 mph or greater, for any duration.

“That definitely was one of the longest-duration high-wind events,” Woodward said. In his two-and-a-half years in Cheyenne, he said he had never experienced winds over 80 mph.

He said Laramie County will be entering a calm period over the next few days, and that this would be a good time to assess any property damage and clean up any debris.

Wood recommends exercising caution around downed power lines and damaged tree branches.

“If there are downed active power lines, try to maintain your distance; you want to stay a long way away,” Wood said. “The electricity can even travel through the ground and shock up. So, don’t approach the lines, don’t touch anything metal that might be energized — fences, something like that. Call, and we’ll come take a look at it and try to isolate the area and refer to Black Hills, as appropriate.”

He said to contact Black Hills, Spectrum or CenturyLink for issues with downed lines, depending on whose lines they are. For concerns around trees, he said to contact a certified arborist.

LCFA recommends homeowners keep items such as trampolines and other large, unsecured items on their property secured by tying them down with approved securing devices.

They also recommend keeping grass mowed short and keeping a defensible space around your property in case a wind or weather event causes a downed power line that sparks a grass fire in high wind conditions.