Archives for May 28, 2008

DigitalGlobe was kind enough to share with me some of the imagery captured over Windsor on May 24, 2008, the day after the powerful F3 tornado went through the town, just 1.5 miles West of my office. Some details about the image… On May 22nd, a powerful EF-2 or EF-3 tornado struck the northern Colorado town of Windsor causing heavy damage to more than 250 homes, buildings and property. On May 24th, DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite collected a strip of 60-cm imagery along the east side of Interstate 25, including the town of Windsor, Colorado. The imagery clearly shows the extent of damage from the large tornado.

Of interest in the image below, More than 150 children were in the Windmill Child Enrichment
Center, on the east side of Windsor, when the tornado struck on May 22nd. Teachers at the day care center were able to safely protect all of the children within the building, while the tornado tore off part of the roof. As the QuickBird imagery reveals, virtually all of the surrounding
buildings next to the day care center suffered significant damage or were totally destroyed
by the tornado.

Quickbird Natural Color Image, Windsor, CO, May 24, 2008 (c)DigitalGlobe, 2008

Indeed this is no less than amazing, as you hear from everyone in Windsor this week… simply amazing that nobody was killed in the area. This really jumps out to you as you drive through the hardest hit areas as I did this week-end. Indeed someone was taking care of the people of Windsor last Thursday! My neighbor, a school principal was saying how incredibly lucky it was that the children had not been dismissed from school yet (it was the last day of school for the year) as they would have been scattered throughout the town rather than being safely gathered in shelters and safe havens.Quickbird Natural Color Image, Windsor, CO, May 24, 2008 (c)DigitalGlobe, 2008