A tornado touched down near Denver International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, frightening passengers, prompting evacuations and diverting flights.

The twister, confirmed by radar at 2:20 p.m. by the National Weather Service, did not cause any structural damage.

Nine flights were diverted to nearby airports, including Colorado Springs and Cheyenne, said DIA spokeswoman Laura Coale.

“Some families and children were frightened,” said Joel Denbo, a passenger who touched down at DIA shortly before the tornado did.

Denbo was among those who took shelter in a restroom, he said.

“The crew that we had in my shelter, some of us are old hands at living through tornado warnings,” he said. “I lived through some very severe tornados two years ago in our community in Decatur, Ala.”

“They rushed us off to go shelter, so we sat in the bathroom for kind of a long time,” said Donna Correia, who had arrived from Los Angeles.

Other passengers took cover in stairwells and other interior areas.

Once given the all-clear, everyone began streaming back into the main terminal areas, said DIA spokesman Heath Montgomery.

Operations were back to near-normal by 3 p.m., Coale said.

Denver police closed the Peña Boulevard exit off Interstate 70 for a short time after the tornado was reported, said Denver police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez.

During the stormy afternoon, there were warnings of extreme weather in northwestern Morgan County, southeastern Weld County and central Arapahoe County.

Denbo said he felt DIA was prepared for this situation.

“They got the public to the safe places,” he said.