Cripple Creek District Museum facing damage after ‘devastating’ hail storm

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (KRDO) -- The town of Cripple Creek is tasked with numerous repairs after a damaging hail storm swept through the area Friday evening.

The storm left residents with broken windshields and windows and some with welts from heavy hailstones. Among the groups impacted is the Cripple Creek District Museum, which was hit hard by the harsh weather.

“I've never seen a hail storm like that here in the mountains,” said Jeanne Gripp, Assistant to the Director of the Cripple Creek Museum. “By the time I got home, I live about four blocks from here, the hailstones were already the size of ping pong balls.”

Gripp said she was closing up the museum gift shop when the storm began, and the hailstones only got bigger.

“It sounded like somebody was throwing rocks at the windows,” said Gripp.

Once the hailstorm passed, Jeanne went to the museum to survey the damage there.

“It was just the impact (that) was hard to wrap our minds around,” said Gripp.

Now, a poster board covers a window broken from the storm, dents pepper the wooden window sills of the gift shop, and the lights outside are cracked.

“These are huge globes probably at least 12 inches across shattered like somebody had taken a hammer to him,” said Gripp.

Most concerning to Gripp in the short-term is a broken tent outside the museum, intended to house summer concerts. The canvas tarp on top was shredded and now the tent's frame stands barren.

However, Jeanne is staying optimistic.

“This is such a tight-knit community here, people really pull together and help each other out,” said Gripp.

She said she is most concerned for the other businesses and nonprofits in town struggling with damage, and she hopes relief and repairs come soon.