NWS: Tornado with winds of 80mph caused damage in northwest Harris County
SPRING, TX (KTRK) -- A tornado touched down in northwest Harris County Monday morning as severe weather moved through the area, the National Weather Service confirmed.
According to the NWS, the EF0 tornado was 100 yards long and 20 yards wide with winds of 80mph. The twister made landfall at Perry Road, just south of Windfern.
The Salmeron's were all inside their home on Perry Road near Windfern in the Cypress area, when they heard a rumbling outside.
"It just started rumbling, our neighbor's house is destroyed, too. There's a fence on top of their house," said Alex Salmeron.
The Salmeron's home surveillance cameras captured the twister as it hit their backyard. In the video, you can see the wind and rain pick up. Seconds later, you see their patio chairs flying, their patio heater blows over and shingles start flying off the roof.
The damage hit several homes along Perry Road. The National Weather Service made a visit to the area to assess the damage.
"We see the fall pattern here. We see the fences laid down in one direction sort of toward the north, we see some objects that were thrown on the rooftops," said Dan Reilly, a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with National Weather Service.
Reilly said some debris faced one direction, while other debris faced a different direction, which suggested a tornado was behind the damage.
"Pretty much damage consistent with a swirling pattern," said Reilly.
After talking to witnesses and looking at the damage, Reilly determined a tornado had hit the area.
In the Spring area, witnesses shot video as trees were snapped and uprooted, and a highway sign knocked down.
As the cell passed by Spring, a funnel cloud passed over Highway 99 and I-45. It snapped the tops out of several trees and knocked over signs as it crossed the roadway. Fortunately there were no homes or businesses in the path of the storm.
Sherry Kincaid was caught out in the rain when the storm passed over.
"It was raining a lot and blowing, I mean hard," she said. "It got really dark and it was really windy and I texted my son I said, 'Oh my God, it's really dark, I think that tornado is close by,' He goes, 'Nooo.'"
But clearly something was close by, proven by debris littering the entrance ramp to Highway 99.
Ian Kincaid said, "You could tell because, you know, the bushes and everything were flying over the place, but it wasn't really anything major. I've seen worse."
There were several tornado warnings across the metro on Monday morning, including one in the Salmeron's neighborhood. Reilly said those alerts are helping many families know when to seek shelter.
"This is a new system called Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and it's really been a great success. If people's cell phone is in a polygon or box that we draw, it will alert," said Reilly.
If you received an alert on your phone Monday morning, that was why. Salmeron said he got the alert and so did other neighbors.
