WRIGHT - "It looked like a bomb went off." With little warning, a tornado ripped through the Cottonwood mobile home park here at about 4:22 p.m. Friday, destroying more than 40 homes.

Thirteen people were transported to Campbell County Memorial Hospital 38 miles north in Gillette, but none of those injuries were believed to be life-threatening. Campbell County Emergency Management Coordinator David King said one person died, but it was believed to be from a heart attack.

He had no further information about the fatality at the Star-Tribune's deadline Friday night.

The tornado scattered metal siding, insulation and other debris throughout this coal mining town of about 1,400 people. It also ripped off roofs and caused extensive damage to several stick-built homes. And it peeled a brick wall off Cottonwood Elementary School.

Wright resident Don McDaniel said a torrent of water and marble-sized hail pounded the town before the tornado struck, and it was difficult to see anything until it passed through. Then residents emerged from the wreckage to see power lines downed and natural gas lines belching gas into the air.

"It looked like a bomb went off," McDaniel said as he sat in his pickup and talked with neighbors about disaster. "My house is intact. I'm one of the lucky ones."

McDaniel's neighbor said he watched a trampoline shoot straight up into the air like a rocket, then it shot across the sky and disappeared.

By 7 p.m., Wright was flooded with emergency personnel and utility workers. Emergency response crews from local coal mines also pitched in. Much of Wright remained without electrical power and natural gas.

Red Cross quickly set up a station at Wright Junior/Senior High School just blocks away from the epicenter of the damage.

Barry Peterson was among dozens of residents who went to the school to share stories with neighbors.

"It kind of skirted my house, then dropped down into the trailer park there. And in 15 minutes it was over," said Peterson, who lives on Yellowstone Circle in Wright.

Six blocks away from the mobile home park, Elizabeth Albin surveyed the damage to her home as a friend from Gillette nailed a blue tarp to the roof.

"It was chaos," Albin said.

How to help

People wanting to contribute to disaster assistance for people in Wright may do so by sending contributions to the American Red Cross of Wyoming, P.O. Box 586, Cheyenne, 82003-0568.

Looking for information?

To seek the help of the Red Cross, find shelter locations or offer assistance, call 1-866-438-4636.

Reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com.