Heavy storm damage in Leon County leaves residents picking up the mess, assessing what happened
LEON COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) – Residents across Leon County worked to clean up from a storm that tore through the area Thursday evening.
Significant damage could be seen from Marquez, down CR 248 and 247, plus Highway 39 near Flynn. This was a busy day for crews working to restore power for hundreds of residents in the area as they worked to clean up downed trees, plus damage to homes and properties. Some residents reported to KBTX it took nearly three hours to clear fallen trees that prevented access to numerous properties in the area of CR 248.
Crews shut down the roadway at one point in order to repair power lines. This required traffic headed to Marquez to use CR 247, where they ran into a flooded roadway. The damage in Leon County has not been officially determined to be a tornado, the National Weather Service is working to analyze data from the storm to determine if it was heavy winds, a straight-line wind or a tornado as many residents believe.
“Trees are down everywhere, the neighbors across the road watched the tornado rip the porch off their house. Just a lot of debris, a lot of clean up, a lot of us are without electricity,” Leon County resident Jennifer Harralson said. “We got flooding last week and this week we got tornados.”
The Harralsons got power back on around 6 p.m. Friday night. There is no timeline on the assessment of the storm but the NWS said local officials have been doing onsite assessments and will be sharing information soon.
