Published: May 04, 2009 11:11 pm      

Grapeland, Elkhart citizens picking up roofs, debris

High winds caused significant damage around the Grapeland and Elkhart area, but luckily there was no one seriously injured.

As the Sunday morning storms swept through Grapeland the damage was swift and significant, according to Houston County Precinct 1 Commissioner Roger Dickey, who also serves as chief of the Grapeland Volunteer Fire Department.

“A little after 6 (a.m.) we got called out to a downed tree,” Dickey said. “When we got to the station we couldn’t get in to get our trucks out because of debris in front of the doors.”

There were numerous trees down across Grapeland, Dickey said, as the storm quickly moved through the area.

Several Grapeland businesses were damaged as a roof was torn off a vacant building located next to Grapeland City Hall on Oak Street. The damage path jumped across the street to the old Darsey warehouse building, severely damaging its roof and then the winds traveled southeast ripping the roof off of Chapman’s Hardware, a continuously operated hardware store since 1947, located a block east of city hall on Main Street.

“I think these were straight-line winds from a microburst,” Dickey said. “All of the damage went in the same direction. Those straight-line winds can do as much damage as a tornado.”

The timing of the storm on a Sunday morning was a blessing, Dickey said because people were still at home and not out on the streets headed to church.

“We got real lucky,” Dickey said. “Nobody got hurt.”

As of Monday afternoon, power was restored to Grapeland, but crews from Oncor were still at work around the city with telephone and cable workers making sure customers got their service restored.

Along with the damage to the downtown buildings, City Cafe on Market Street had the buildings front porch ripped off and farther to the south on Market Street several trees were down inside Grapeland City Park according to Grapeland Police officer R.L. Moffet.

About 10 miles north, just south of Elkhart, Paul Hester along with his wife Patti and their son Price had to duck inside a bathroom as winds swept over their home located along U.S. 287.

“A friend of my son was spending the night and I was sound asleep when it (storm) woke me up about 5:30 in the morning,” Hester said. “When I heard it I knew exactly what it was and I told my wife to get in the bathroom.

“I ran and got the boys out of their room and had one under each arm going across the living room when I heard the roof come off.”

While officials have blamed the damage on straight line winds, Hester, who has gone through a tornado before, believed it was a tornado that damaged his house, as there was parts of his house strewn in several different directions.

The storm ripped the front porch from Hester’s house along with half of his roof, which was laying about 100 yards away in a stand of woods behind his house.

All of that was just part of the damage.

“When the roof came off the water came in,” Hester said. “Our biggest problem now is water damage. We are going to have to let the furniture dry and then put it in storage.”

Hester spent most of the day Monday talking to insurance companies and other folks about what the family’s next step will be as one of the family’s cars also was damaged by the storm.

Still, Hester is grateful his family is safe and secure.

“I’m glad the storm wasn’t all that bad,” he said.