Cleanup efforts underway in Pueblo after blizzard

You don’t need to go far in Pueblo County to see fallen trees after Wednesday’s powerful wind gusts. Clean up efforts are just getting underway and crews say it could take weeks to clear all of the damage.

All Seasons Tree Service’s owner Jerone Coca says Wednesday’s conditions were perfect for uprooting trees. Heavy rains earlier in the day loosened the ground, and 75-mph winds took care of the rest, resulting in serious structure damage.

“We are very busy probably for the next two to three weeks,” said Coca. “It’s been non-stop ’til this morning, so within the last 24 hours or 18 hours we’ve probably gotten 100 calls.”

According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s office, law enforcement began receiving calls of downed power lines, uprooted trees, and structure damage.

Black Hills Energy says at the storm’s worst, around 11,000 customers were without power Wednesday evening. As of Thursday afternoon, that number was down to 141. A majority of the outages occurred in the Belmont neighborhood, Pueblo’s east side, and near the airport.

Black Hills Energy crews hope to have power back up for everyone soon, however, the last few are individual cases and could take longer than the others.

Structure damage was all over Pueblo in both downtown area and the residential homes. Multiple homes were directly hit by fallen trees.

Businesses weren’t spared either. Advanced Auto Parts off of Highway 50 had its roof blown off Wednesday afternoon.

“There was rumbling and stuff hitting the roof,” said Noe Aguirre, a manager at the auto store. “It was really loud especially when the roof in the front started coming up.”

The auto store is open today as crews work to repair the roof.

Coca tells KRDO that people should steer clear of the tree cleanup crews. Debris could fall from trees and branches at any point.