Tornado touches down at Higgins Ranch

Just before 1 a.m. last Friday, a tornado touched down at the Higgins Ranch a few miles northeast of Ridgeway.

According to a report from the National Weather Service, the tornado was classified as an EF-1 with winds between 86 and 110 miles per hour. It was approximately 50 yards wide and on the ground for nearly 200 yards.

Crystal Higgins told the Eagle that the tornado came through at 12:44 a.m., as evidenced by a security camera that captured a few seconds of footage before power went out.

Higgins was in her home when the tornado came through and said that she could hear the wind change direction as rain started hitting the west side of their house. "It sounded like a freight train," she said.

Most of the damage occurred to buildings on the south side of the ranch.

A lambing shed that served as a current shelter for several bum lambs as well as 4-H sheep had its roof ripped off, along with several of the trusses. The animals were shaken for a few days but none were injured, she said.

One garage building was picked up and moved before it collapsed on an electric pole. A vehicle that was inside was only moved a few feet, though Higgins said that there was a piece of lumber wedged in between the head liner and door and that every panel on it was significantly damaged.

Another building had its metal roof peeled back. Lumber from the lambing shed were stuck through it.

A roof was also momentarily lifted from an office building attached to a shop before it was placed back on the building. The shop building had two doors blown in and roof damage

Their old horse barn was also destroyed. Tin from the barn was scattered through a nearby pasture full of livestock. None were injured.

Several trees were snapped and other smaller trees blown over or uprooted. One large cottonwood was destroyed and took nearly a day to cut up and remove.

Two electric poles were broken. A crew from Southeast Electric arrived on scene at around 2 a.m. and had power restored by about 9:30 a.m.

Higgins said that the erratic damage from the storm is one way the National Weather Service could tell that it was a tornado. If it had been a microburst or straight line winds, there would have been damage to all of the structures.

With all of the destruction from the tornado, there were no injuries to animals or people, no homes were damaged and there was no damage to any Rodeo Rigs trailers.