Sifting through the storm damage
Highways, schools close after storms with 100-mph gusts
Josette Adams stacks family photographs on a table in what remains of her living room in her Sealy home on Wednesday, the day after high speed winds and hail wreaked havoc in communities south and west of Houston. “All we heard was wind and hail,” her husband Olen Adams said. No tornadoes had been confirmed, but wind speeds reached 100 mph is some areas.
Olen Adams, 78, and his wife, Josette, had just turned on the television Tuesday evening when one of their windows shattered.
As the couple ran for cover, the wind whisked the roof off of their home in Sealy, where they have lived for 30 years.
Dime-sized hail pummeled their living room.
“All we heard was wind and hail,” Adams said.
Storms with winds reaching up to 100 mph — a comparable speed to an EF1 tornado — pummeled the Houston area overnight, resulting Wednesday in closed highways, canceled classes and destroyed homes and businesses. No serious injuries were reported.
Houston proper missed the worst of the storms. A cold front traveling southeast from the northwest coupled with an upper level disturbance wreaked havoc in cities south and west of Houston, said Molly Merrifield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Power out until Friday
Worst hit was Sealy, about 50 miles west of downtown Houston.
Down the street from the Adams’ home, owner Stephanie Litchauer served a handful of patrons at her business, Creekmore’s Sports Bar on Highway 36.
Suddenly, the 13-yearold bar’s roof was gone.
“It came in very hard and fast,” Litchauer said. “A door blew open. Then another door blew open. And you couldn’t see anything out front because the hail was so bad.”
A customer dragged Litchauer into the bar’s office to take cover. Insulation fell from the ceiling onto the pool tables.
“It felt like it lasted forever,” Litchauer said.
About 2,000 residents in the southern half of Sealy, along Interstate 10 and Highway 90A, still did not have power Wednesday afternoon, Sealy Mayor Janice Whitehead said. Power won’t be fully restored in the area until Friday, Whitehead added.
Power lines along I-10 and Highway 36 fell, closing both roads overnight, said TxDOT spokeswoman Cari Hensley.
Highway 36 was still closed Wednesday morning between FM 3013 and I-10, Hensley said. High winds had flipped over an 18-wheeler on the highway, Merrifield said.
Schools closed
No tornadoes had been confirmed Wednesday afternoon, said Jeff Evans, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. Instead, the winds that hit Sealy — ranging in speed from 80 to 100 mph — were microbursts. Instead of spiraling, winds in a microburst blow out, Evans said.
“But it’s somewhat irrelevant when you’re in the path of that,” Evans said. “A 100-mile wind is going to do the same amount of damage, whether it’s spinning or not.”
All Sealy ISD schools and offices were closed Wednesday because of damage from the weather, according to the district’s website.
Residents of Rosenberg in Fort Bend County experienced hail and winds that exceeded 60 mph.
Several storms traveled across Trinity, San Jacinto and Polk counties, though those areas were not as affected as Fort Bend or Austin counties. There were reports of quarter-sized hail in Houston County, Merrifield said.
Litchauer, the owner of Creekmore’s Sports Bar, said she plans to reopen.
The Adamses know they will be rebuilding their home from scratch.
They sifted through their ruined furniture Wednesday morning, looking for family photos.
“I’ve been trying to tell my wife we need to downsize anyway,” Adams quipped. “But she didn’t want to do it this way.”