K'Ville Twisters

[Port_town_texas]

Is everyone ok out there????:eek: :crying: :crying: :crying:

[Port_town_texas]

does anybody have any info on this situation??

[Port_town_texas]

The Beaumont Enterprise home : news : news : local


Storm-torn





By JACQUELINE LANE and DEE DIXON
The Enterprise 11/25/2004





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Photos by Scott Eslinger/The Enterprise

Michael Petty, 47, of San Antonio, right, takes a smoke break on Wednesday in Kirbyville as Darrell Edge, 51, of Austin, left, and Charlie Merkelz, 20, of Orange carry a mantel out of the remains of Eldon and Susan Edge's home. The 100-year-old house was destroyed by a tornado on Tuesday.

KIRBYVILLE _ As Susan Edge and her son-in-law huddled Tuesday in her "tornado closet," her 100-year-old house shifted several feet as a twister smashed windows, tore off walls and ripped off the roof.



Edge, 50, was studying for college finals and her son-in-law, Jason Petty, 23, was reading when they heard dogs barking and the thunder roaring.



The tornado destroyed her house, leveled a pecan orchard and flattened farm buildings.



Once out of the closet, they could see daylight streaming through the now roofless bathroom.



"There was no front to the house," she said. "And we dropped to our knees and said the ur Father.'"



On Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologists toured the storm ravaged counties. They estimate about five to 10 F-0 and F-1 tornadoes, with winds up to 110 mph, trounced the area, meteorologist Roger Erickson said.



The storms left 72-year-old Loatis Crawford dead, injured at least two and ruined many Thanksgiving plans.



Edge and her husband, Eldon, have lived in the home since 1995. On Wednesday, broken glass crunched under the feet of family and neighbors who came to retrieve furniture and other belongings.



Curtains were tangled on flattened wooden walls, while soggy clothes and textbooks were scattered about.



On Tuesday, Jasper and Newton county judges issued disaster declarations.



Hardin County Emergency Management officials followed suit Wednesday.



"It overwhelmed our resources really quick," said Theresa Wigley, Hardin County assistant emergency management coordinator.



She estimates about 10 homes near Old Spurger Highway were destroyed.




Photos by Scott Eslinger/The Enterprise

Thomas Eason Jr., 12, salvages some of his grandmother Vivian Thornton's belongings in what is left of her mobile home on Wednesday in Caney Head. Thornton was not home when a tornado passed through on Tuesday, but her neighbor and friend, Loatis M. Crawford, 72, was killed when a tree crushed her mobile home about 200 yards south of Thornton's home.

One of them was a leveled mobile home that belonged to Juanitta Eason's mother, Vivian Thornton, 55. Nobody was home when the deadly tornado hit.



Eason, 37, told her mother Tuesday night that her home was destroyed and that her friend and church member, Loatis Crawford, had been killed.



Crawford had called Thornton earlier Tuesday and told her "I am so ready for you to come home. I miss you. _ It's time for you to come home," Eason said.



Eason had mixed emotions about the storm.



"I hate it that our neighbor got killed, but I am thankful that my Mom wasn't here and we weren't here," she said.



In Newton County, about 12 to 17 homes were obliterated from the tornadoes, a sheriff's department dispatcher said.



About 25 Tyler County families were impacted by the storm due to fallen trees and hail, a Tyler County Sheriff's Department dispatcher said.



At the height of the storm, Entergy had about 42,000 customers in its service area without power. Their crews and contractors from Louisiana were brought in to help restore power. By 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, 1,424 customers were without power.



Areas that still did not have power include 675 in New Caney, 437 in Woodville, 93 in Port Arthur, 141 in Winnie and 28 in Silsbee, spokeswoman Debi Derrick said.



Less than 10 percent of the Sam Houston Electrical Cooperative's 50,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm, officials said.



The electrical company serves customers in Jasper, Tyler, Polk, San Jacinto, Hardin, Trinity, Angelina, Walker and Montgomery counties.



By Wednesday evening, power was restored to most people living west of Lake Livingston.



The Jasper Newton Electric Cooperative, which has 21,000 customers, experienced two waves of power outages that followed the two lines of thunderstorms that trampled Southeast Texas Tuesday night _ first about 4:30 p.m. and again about 11:30 p.m.



When the first storm hit, customers in its central to north service, from Buna to Brookeland lost power, General Manager Fred Solly said. The second storm knocked out power in Deweyville, Vidor and Zavalla.



At midnight Tuesday, there were 7,500 customers without power, the highest for the night. By 4 p.m. Wednesday, 2,500 customers were without power.



Solly estimates power will be restored to most customers today. However, crews were unable to reach an area in Bon Weir by Wednesday afternoon.



Jimmy and Kathryn Bouse, who live on FM 92, had gone to Palestine Tuesday to visit their daughter when they heard their house was damaged.



"I thanked the Lord I wasn't there," said Kathryn, 55.



Jimmy, 63, wore a blue and white hat Wednesday that said: "Grandpa's lucky cap."



"We was lucky I guess," he said. "It could have been a lot worse."

[Port_town_texas]

The Beaumont Enterprise home : news : news : local


Storm unleashes twisters





By DEE DIXON and JACQUELINE LANE
The Enterprise 11/24/2004





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The remains of a portable building are shown at the Caney Head home of Arthur Crawford, 59, north of Silsbee on Tuesday evening. Crawford's sister-in-law, who lives just down the road, was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home.
Photo by Scott Eslinger/The Enterprise
CANEY HEAD - One woman died and at least two injuries were reported Tuesday after an initial storm spawning multiple tornadoes ripped through Southeast Texas and leveled homes, snapped trees and downed power lines.



Along County Road 451 in Jasper County, two people were injured and were taken to the hospital, said Billy Ted Smith, the emergency management coordinator for Sabine, Newton and Jasper counties. Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.



KFDM chief meteorologist Greg Bostwick said multiple tornadoes had come out of the same storm cell, which moved from southern Liberty County, across Hardin County, into portions of Jasper and Newton counties and into Louisiana.



Bostwick estimated winds to be from 100 to 150 mph, based on damage reports.



At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday another line of strong thunderstorms slashed through Southeast Texas, about two hours earlier than National Weather Service meteorologists forecast.



"It's a pretty vigorous cold front that is moving through very quickly," said Roger Erickson, National Weather Service in Lake Charles meteorologist.



The line of storms that stretched from Woodville to Galveston produced high winds and reports of hail when it started about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. The line blew through Beaumont about 11:20 p.m. heading east, unleashing a pounding rain and strong winds.



But minutes before midnight, there were not any reports of major problems caused by the second line of storms, said chief meteorologist Bostwick. All warnings had expired.



"We thought it might slow a little bit, but it is really trucking right along," Bostwick said.



No other thunderstorms were expected, and area residents should expect temperatures in the low 60s and winds of 10 to 15 mph today, according to the weather service.



Power outages were reported in Lumberton, Kirbyville, Jasper and Woodville in some of the same neighborhoods that were walloped earlier Tuesday evening, Erickson said at 11:45 p.m.



After the first round Tuesday night, Arthur Crawford, 59, stood on his front porch and talked about his loss and death of his sister-in-law, 77-year-old Lotis Crawford.



Family members said the woman, who attended First Pentecostal Church in Fred, was killed in her home off Ward Lane after an enormous oak tree crushed the trailer.



Honey Island resident June Thornton, 33, and her fiancé, James Baird, looked at the damage from behind the yellow crime scene tape. They went to the house to pick up some items for Lotis' son, Ronnie Crawford, and his wife, they said.



Ronnie Crawford and his wife were in their nearby home when the storm hit.



Two oak trees on the seven-acre parcel of land trapped Ronnie Crawford, who was freed by emergency workers responding to the storm's aftermath.



Standing on the running boards of his truck at Arthur Crawford's nearby home, his son, 32-year-old Dewayne West, shined a light on the an empty mobile home wrapped around an oak tree, two leveled pine trees that had been destined for decoration at Christmas and a kid's basketball hoop.



"I don't know where the basketball hoop came from," an amazed West said.



After the storm he went to help Arthur Crawford remove a tree that had fallen on the house he built about 14 years ago. The mobile home he was inspecting was one that had been on the same property.



Arthur Crawford said he was cooking dinner about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when he looked out the window and saw two funnel clouds - one from the north and one from the south - headed his way.



"Those jokers met right in my front yard," he said. "All I could do was tell my wife to get in the bedroom and get under the mattress."



The moon was high in the sky, but it didn't prevent them from being able to see the darkened outline of fallen trees and the crumpled corrugated metal that was the roof of his shed.



Sitting in a booth at Dominy's Dine In and Drive Thru at FM 1122 and FM 92, the visibly shaken Ronnie Crawford cradled his bandaged right arm.



His neighbor, Norman Hollyfield, sat beside him.



Both men's clothes were a bit damp and mud-spattered.



"We were watching the news and it said the tornado was in Woodville," said a barefoot Hollyfield, who didn't think he was in harm's way at the time. "Then we heard something that sounded like a freight train. The next thing you know the rain stopped, the wind stopped and we fell to the floor."



He said his trailer was picked up and tossed about 30 feet. Two neighboring trailers on Old Spurger Highway "were leveled."



The story echoed from other counties.



In Jasper County, 15 to 20 houses in the County Road 451 area received varying levels of damage.



Smith said six to eight other roads have 20 to 30 homes which also were damaged.



And along Texas 82 in Kirbyville, a house was destroyed and several damaged, Smith said.



West of Kirbyville along County Road 701, two houses were destroyed and several damaged.



A shelter was opened Tuesday at the Central Baptist Church in Kirbyville and an Emergency Operation Center activated.



In Newton County, there were reports of severe damage in the Pine Grove community, Bleakwood community, Burkeville and city of Newton, Smith said.



Newton County Chief Deputy Bob Walker said he knew of four houses that had been destroyed in Pine Grove and Burkeville and downed trees had blocked county roads.



Walker said there was "a whole bunch of barns wiped out, fences destroyed and animals everywhere."



Both the Jasper and Newton county judges issued a disaster declaration.



At McGallion Road and FM 92 in Hardin County, crews with the Texas Department of Transportation, Silsbee Fire Department and the Hardin County maintenance department used saws and a tractor to remove the fallen trees that clipped power lines.



Although it was dark, the damage was evident in the pine needles littering the roadway, the light-colored spots of freshly snapped limbs dotting the night sky and the pungent aroma of pine.



A family of three living near that intersection was trapped inside a trailer after another mobile home rolled on top of it, said Chief Billy Slaydon of the Silsbee Fire Department. The family was rescued by the some of the 35 firefighters working Tuesday night.



"We don't even know that we have gotten to everybody. There are so many private driveways and elderly people living in these woods that you can't tell where the roads are," Hollyfield said.



He estimates about 50 homes had been damaged or destroyed.



The difficulties of a night search were reiterated by Smith.



He said a couple of hundred fire department, law enforcement, county officials were out Tuesday night assessing damage and helping to clear roads of downed trees.



"It will probably be morning before we can get an actual view of everything we've got," Smith said. " ... When daylight breaks we're probably going to see a lot more."



Tyler County apparently was relatively lucky. Sheriff Jessie Wolf said a tree fell across FM 92 in Spurger, and in the southern part of the county there were downed power lines.



Patrol Sgt. Mark Minton of the Hardin County Sheriff's Department said he has not seen destruction like Tuesday's storms in the 18 years he has been a deputy.



He said the tornado created a 100-yard path of destruction that crossed U.S. 69, halting rush-hour traffic headed for FM 92.



At one point, firefighters listening to the weather scanner thought that another tornado was headed back to Hardin County, but it was just a scare.