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Tornado Touches Down Near Wiggins, Home Has Roof Torn Off

WIGGINS, Colo. (CBS4/AP) - Hail the size of golf balls and tennis balls fell across Colorado's northeastern Plains on Saturday, accompanied by several tornado warnings.

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Sara Bevan's damaged home near Wiggins on Saturday (credit: CBS)
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Sara Bevan's damaged home near Wiggins on Saturday (credit: CBS)

The National Weather Service issued alerts for people to take shelter from large hail and severe thunderstorms as the storms moved through the Front Range toward the Nebraska border. A tornado was reported near Wiggins, a sparsely populated area about 65 miles northeast of Denver.

Ping pong ball-sized hail was reported around Strasburg.

Strasburg hail from Alishia Garcia
Hail in Strasburg (credit: Alishia Garcia)

CBS4's Melissa Garcia found plenty of damage along Highway 34 just north of the Empire Reservoir. One home had its roof torn off and there were numerous downed power lines.

There was also a lot of lightning in the area when the tornado touched down.

Stormchaser Spencer Park,  who witnessed the tornado, said it was "pretty scary."

"Very windy, people were stopping on the side of the road because you couldn't see. The road was covered with hail like it just snowed two inches," Park said. "It was very dark, that's for sure."

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Storm damage near Wiggins (credit: CBS)
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Storm damage near Wiggins (credit: CBS)
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Storm damage near Wiggins (credit: CBS)

There were several cars that went into a ditch but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The storms are expected to push east overnight.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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