Las Vegas man killed by rare Utah tornado

SALT LAKE CITY -- Tornadoes aren't supposed to touch down in Utah.

But there was Bill Alder, the chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Utah, watching his radar screen with growing concern just after lunch Wednesday.

"It looked like severe weather, and severe weather can generate funnel clouds which can turn into a tornado," he said. "But that doesn't happen here."

Just before 1 p.m., a twister ripped through the heart of the city that will be the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics, destroying 34 homes and damaging 87 others. It overturned trucks, blew the windows out of downtown hotels and sent the city into a tailspin.

One person, Las Vegan Allen Crandy, was killed and scores were injured.

It was the first tornado fatality ever recorded in Utah, where tornado sightings typically happen only about once or twice a year. Some of the first to spot the twister didn't believe what they were seeing.

"We said, 'Is that a fire?' " said Cole Lundquist, who was standing by a window on the 24th floor of the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the city's tallest building. "Then we saw all the debris, then flames and sparks shooting above it."

Mayor Deedee Corradini said this morning that 79 people were injured severely enough to go to a hospital. Many others suffered lesser injuries.

"It's been a tragedy for us, but we've been very, very lucky -- it could have been much worse," she said.

Corradini said crews had worked through the night clearing debris and, "We are open for business in downtown Salt Lake City this morning."

Gov. Mike Leavitt, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," said, "There was virtually no way in which to warn people."

"It's been a hurtful experience for many and we're grateful that the sun's going to come up this morning and we can now finish the cleanup and move forward," he said.

The black funnel swept in from southeast of the city center and seemed to target the Delta Center, home of the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz.

"You could just see it peeling the roof off," Lundquist said. "The debris there was at eye level with us on the 24th floor."

It also shattered the arena's plate glass windows. But it did its worst damage just opposite the Delta Center, where exhibitors for the massive Outdoor Retailers Summer Market were setting up under a block-long tent, now mostly in tatters.

Crandy was killed when he was struck in the head by debris. The contractor for the retailers' show was skipping lunch to make sure the booths looked their best.

Fifteen people remained hospitalized today, two in critical condition and four in serious condition. One man with severe leg injuries was downgraded from serious to critical following lengthy surgery overnight, LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez said.

The show was postponed one day, until Friday.

As people ran screaming from tents, waitresses at a nearby diner watched while the lunchtime crowd huddled under tables. Visitors at Temple Square, the usually placid heart of the Mormon Church, dashed for shelter as the tornado churned by.

Across the street, nearly 1,000 workers crawled through the shell of the church's under-construction assembly hall. Bill Morton was pouring concrete on the roof of the five-story assembly hall when the storm hit. At first, his workers thought the Delta Center was on fire.

For two more miles and about five more minutes, the twister - classified as an F2, which has winds between 113 mph and 157 mph - stomped through the city, ripping away street signs, tearing down electric lines and stacking delivery trucks atop each other.

The 15-story Wyndham Hotel had dozens of windows blown out on either side, with long shards of glass strewn on the grass below. Four-inch-wide poles were bent over into U-shapes, their signs nearly touching the ground.

The storm headed north across the lawn of the state Capitol, uprooting trees and punching out one window. Then it turned into the foothills and one of the poshest neighborhoods in town, the Avenues, where Patty Reagan was sitting, watching the weather on the noon news.

"The weatherman said there was hail and wind gusts," she said. She looked out her front window only to see her 100-foot pine tree ripped out of the ground.

Leavitt surveyed the damage by helicopter and declared a state of emergency. Except for the Delta Center, which will be the venue for skating events in two years, little property related to the Olympics was damaged.

After the tornado touched down, crowds gathered downtown to gawk at the destruction. Tourists filmed the scene with their video cameras.

"This is amazing. I never thought I'd see a tornado, least of all in Utah," David Gross, a vendor from Sudbury, Mass., said.

Back at the church construction site, Morton said: "I'll tell you one thing, God was watching out for us. I'll tell you another. I never want to see another one."

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