Tornado with peak 100 mph winds touches down west of Houston amid Tropical Storm Alberto, NWS says
Storm damage surveyors assessed the EF-1 tornado in Bellville, Texas, about 68 miles west of Houston.
BELLVILLE, Texas (KTRK) -- While most of Tropical Storm Alberto's impacts on Texas were mainly along coastal communities, the National Weather Service said the system's outer band produced a tornado touchdown more than 90 miles inland, west of Houston.
According to an NWS damage survey, the tropical tornado spun up at 5:25 p.m. Wednesday and traveled nearly 2 miles in northwest Bellville in Austin County.
The tornado lasted two minutes, the NWS said. It uprooted and snapped hardwood trees, ripped off a business' metal roof, and damaged at least two homes.
The tornado's winds peaked at 100 mph, landing an EF-1 classification under the Enhanced Fujita Scale, a "rating" system that the NWS said is based on estimated wind speeds and related damage. An EF-1 rating falls between 86 and 110 mph.
In its survey summary, the NWS said the tornado touchdown northwest of Bellville near State Highway 36 before tracking along and across Koy Road. The path then crossed the State Highway 159 and Koy Road intersection toward private ranch land.
Fortunately, the NWS didn't report any deaths or injuries.
Tropical Storm Alberto weakened Thursday as it moved inland over northeast Mexico, leaving three dead in the Nuevo Leon and Veracruz states.
Civil protection authorities reported three deaths linked to Alberto's rains. They said one man died in the La Silla River in the city of Monterrey, the state capital, and that two minors died from electric shocks in the municipality of Allende. Local media reported that the minors were riding a bicycle in the rain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
