Wednesday, September 1, 2004

'Microburst' tips over RV in Belen

Jane Moorman News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jmoorman@news-bulletin.com

Belen Mary Beth Johnson was returning to her home at a little after 4:30 p.m. Monday when severe winds knocked her trailer off its supports and tore the awning from its front at La Mirada RV Park on Belen's west mesa.

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An RV parked next door was flipped on its side as the winds cut to the southeast across the area. No one was inside the vehicle and emergency personnel had not located the owners at press time.

"I think it was an F-0 tornado," said Bob Colpitts, who added he was from West Texas and had seen many tornadoes during his life. "The clouds were rotating and there was a definite dust funnel stretching all the way up to the cloud. You could see it forming, it was a well defined funnel."

Belen Fire Chief Wayne Gallegos was surveying the damage and securing propane tanks on the RV to prevent further damage.

He said that photographs he saw of the event indicated "it was a huge dust devil. I couldn't tell by the photographs if it went to the clouds. It did rotate counter-clockwise, as shown by the damage.

"From where Mr. Colpitts viewed the storm and from his experience, he is confident it was a tornado."

Jeff Michalski, a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Service, said Tuesday that "it sounds to us like it was a micro burst. It happens when there's really dry air near the surface and you get some rain out of some of the clouds. It's a rapid evaporation of the air, and the air is cooled and sinks rapidly down to the surface.

"It's actually quite common in New Mexico."

Others were also stricken by the power of the storm. "It was 100-feet wide," said Andy Saiz of Advanced Environmental Solutions, located north of the park. "It filled our parking lot, tore a section of the roof off and even lifted an empty wooden pallet and threw it about 50 feet."

Other reported damage included a section of the wooden plank fence around La Mirada Restaurant and RV Park torn from the ground and another RV flipped onto its side at Sunrise Estates south of the Interstate-25 Belen Camino del Llano exit. No one was reported injured in any of the incidents.

Across the Rio Grande, a caller reported seeing a funnel cloud about three miles south of Tomé Hill, said Carol Rowe, communications director of the Valencia County Sheriff's Department.

It blew up into the sky and east toward the Manzano Mountains, reportedly without damaging any structures.

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