Bennett resident "kind of went hysterical" as Colorado tornado hit quickly-growing town

CBS News

20-05-2025

After multiple tornadoes damaged Colorado communities Sunday, neighbors are beginning the long process of cleanup.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said 17 buildings, including six homes and a solar farm, were damaged in Bennett.
Tornadoes are not new to the Bennett area, but what is new are hundreds of new residents as the rural area east of the Denver metro area sees more development. Bennett's population has historically been around 2,500 to 2,800, but with recent development the town estimates their population is now more than 4,000, and it's only going up.
In his near 50 years in the Bennett area, Rob Anderson has avoided a tornado, until Sunday.
"Home. Been here for 40 plus years. This is the first one I've ever had hit me," Anderson said.
While preparing to load up his horses for a competition out of state, Rob Anderson says his sister warned him of the tornado.
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"I had come around the south end of the barn here, and there was a tornado sitting over there. And I says, 'Okay.' I said, 'This ain't looking good,'" Anderson said.
He rushed to get his horses into the barn and take shelter in his home.
When he emerged, he surveyed the damage.
"I went, I kind of went hysterical. I guess you could say," Anderson said. "I saw my trailer sitting over there. I saw them two trailers right there, like they're at my one shed here, gone, the other shed on the side of the barn gone, and just a mess."
The horse trailer he'd been working on minutes earlier had been ripped open and thrown across the property. Other trailers, sheds and even a bedroom window were also destroyed.
"Just been picking stuff up here, there and everywhere. All I can do," Anderson said.
Rob Anderson points out where he saw the tornado.
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While no one was hurt in this tornado, Anderson knows that future twisters could threaten more homes in his community.
"The town has been small," said Trish Stiles, town manager for the Town of Bennett. "We have been prepping though as we knew that eventual growth, as all growth is, is coming east within the metro area."
The Town of Bennett says managing severe weather in the growing community means leaning on partners, like Arapahoe and Adams counties.
"We have been working through scenarios with all of those partners, so yesterday was really a testament that that preparation does pay off," said Stiles.
If there's one thing Anderson knows, it's that severe weather comes with the territory.
"It's chance you take," Anderson said. "It's a chance you don't know, here today, gone tomorrow."
But despite a whirlwind of devastation, Anderson still says he'd take that chance in a heartbeat for his home.
"Couldn't get me to live in the city. No," Anderson said.
The biggest thing the Town of Bennett wants their new residents to do is sign up for Code Red alerts so they get warnings for severe weather like tornadoes and other safety alerts.
They can sign up on the town's website at bennettco.gov or by texting BENNETTALERTS to 99411.
The town also offers a fire safety grant program.
The American Red Cross will be at the Bennett Park and Recreation District Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to help those impacted by the tornado.