East Wharton County avoids major damage
Fear came to West Wharton County Thursday afternoon as funnel clouds formed and dropped from the sky, somehow missing everything except two barns near Pierce.
There were no injuries, emergency management officials said.
El Campo Emergency Management Coordinator Jimmy George Jr. put it succinctly: “We were lucky.â€
High pitched squeals erupted from most cellphones in the area about 2:30 p.m. when the National Weather Service pushed through an emergency alert for a tornado warning.
“Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building,†it read in a no-doubt nationally standard warning not realizing basements are a rarity in the Gulf Coast plains. The warning also urged people to get inside if they weren’t already and “to protect themselves from flying debris.â€
The city of El Campo sent out another warning on its alert system at 2:21 p.m. “A tornado has been observed. Take immediate action to take cover,†it said.
The first descending funnel was reported near the intersection of U.S. 59 and Hwy. 71, but it either did not touch down or did no damage.
It was next spotted near the North Blue Creek Road intersection with U.S. 59.
“Everyone safe here. Thank you Jesus,†said Gerry Mikeska, one of the owners of Mikeska’s Bar-B-Que near that location.
Mikeska captured a video of the tornado and its dirt/dust spewing filed south of his freeway location. Audio of that recording captures the concern of restaurant patrons.
“Oh, my gosh!†one woman shouts and others can be hard talking about the size of the funnel.
Another man quickly adds, “It just blew my rear window out,†indicating his vehicle was parked in the restaurant lot.
No damage was reported south of the freeway in that area.
High wind near the restaurant, Mikeska said, “caused some ceiling tiles in our warehouse to come down.â€
Emergency responders continued to search the county’s roads looking for damage either the same or possibly second tornado touched down near the Department of Public Safety Pierce station, again without doing damage.
Two barns were damaged on CR 405, tin pulled away and tossed dozens of feet.
“Wharton County is blessed that nobody was injured,†said Wharton County Sheriff Shannon Srubar.
No funnel clouds were reported touching down in East Wharton County as the heavy rain bands rolled through moments later.
The same system caused a ground stop at Houston’s Hobby Airport around 3:30 p.m. as it continued rolling eastward.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.