DENVER – It’s not the type of show people hoped to see Wednesday at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Jessica Thompson was one of the thousands pelted with hail as the severe storm moved over the outdoor concert venue.
“I have a few bumps and bruises along my backside on my hip,” Thompson told FOX Weather on Thursday.
AT LEAST 90 INJURED AS GOLF-BALL-SIZED HAIL PELTS CROWD AT COLORADO’S RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE
She was one of the at least 90 concertgoers that were injured during the hailstorm.
“There had never been once a warning for hail, or else we would have left,” Thompson said.
She recalled the moments when the massive hail fell at the venue.
“I went down to use the restroom with one of my friends,” she said. “We left another friend up in the stands and then all of a sudden … the announcer said, ‘Take immediate shelter, find coverage. Hailstorm is approaching.’ So we try to hurry up, go run back up the stairs to find our friend, and we got caught right in the middle of it.”
That’s when she said she felt the immediate pain from the hail.
“All of a sudden, golf-ball-sized hail and quarter-size hail just started pelting our heads and our backs,” she said.
She said that she and her friends were able to take shelter under the merchandise table.
“We emptied out like boxes full of t-shirts and everything. We just placed it over our heads, and we just sat there and took it,” Thompson said.
She said the cries from people being hit by the large hail were loud as people chaotically tried to take shelter.
“You could just hear so many, ‘Ow, Ows,’ and you just see people running to the nearest place under a tree, under the concession stands, into a bathroom, under the merch stand in our case.”
Medics responded to Red Rocks Amphitheatre just after 9 p.m. to find dozens in the crowd injured from the falling hail. Most suffered cuts, but some victims were left with broken bones, according to West Metro Fire. Seven people were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The threat of additional thunderstorms bringing large hail looms for eastern Colorado through the end of the workweek.
TORNADO FORMS SOUTH OF DENVER ON THURSDAY