HOUSTON – Severe weather rolled through Southeast Texas Wednesday, spawning at least three tornadoes and prompting multiple watches and warnings from the National Weather Service.
Several Tornado Warnings were issued as the storm rumbled through the area, and as of 5 p.m., there were three confirmed tornadoes and a possible fourth in Pearland.
The Pearland Police Department said there was an unconfirmed report of a funnel cloud near the 1900 block of N. Main around noon, prompting a nearby Walmart to issue a shelter-in-place order.
The order was lifted around 12:15 p.m., but police said there were reports of extensive roof damage at businesses in the 2100 block of N. Main and multiple downed power lines. An employee at the Busy Bee Café, near Broadway and N. Main, said a tree fell through the roof there, but they were still open.
Click here for storm photos.
Earlier in the day, the National Weather Service confirmed a that tornado touched down on the west side of Brenham. KHOU 11 News crews at the scene said they saw significant damage to homes and other strucures there.
Lamar Cooksey, a Brenham resident, heard the tornado approaching and ran for cover.
"It sounded like a train coming through and I took my grandkids and my daughter and put them in the closet," he said. After the tornado passed, he saw what it left behind.
"My neighbor got a big old commercial barn, it tore half of it off. It took a big oak tree and twisted it off on top of this truck. And my next neighbor down, it pulled the whole back of his house up and laid it on top of the neighbor across the street’s car. A lot of tree damage, a lot of building damage, a lot of roof damage; shingles laying and big oak trees laying out on the south side of Brenham," Cooksey said.
The National Weather Service said a second tornado hit a tire shop about 90 miles northwest of Houston.
A third tornado was reported in Waller County.
"There have been several reports of possible tornadoes in the Home Depot area, which is right downtown near two of the prison units. We haven’t had a chance to get out and check those, but the crews are out tending to the power lines, in the trees, in the streets and on the county roads," Walker County Judge Danny Pierce said. "There has been a lot of blue blazes that I’ve seen personally – four or five of those – which means the power lines were either hit and come together at some point, and of course that causes outages all over town."
Several Houston-area school districts canceled all after-school activities because of the weather.
The storms also caused flight cancellations and delays at both Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports. Click here for Hobby Airport updates. Click here for Bush IAH.
