Wind and Water: Too Much, Too Fast
Trio of Tornados Sighted in Southern Fayette
The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reported three tornado sightings in the southern part of the County during the storm that passed through the area Tuesday evening, May 18.
Strong winds toppled trees and power lines and damaged some light buildings. Sturdier structures around the County such as homes and enclosed barns withstood the strong winds for the most part.
According to the Sheriff’s report, tornadoes were spotted first on US 77 near the Lavaca-Fayette County line, then on US 77 near Swiss Alp and another on FM 609 in the O’Quinn area.
County Road and Bridge crews in Precincts 3 and 4 remained busy Wednesday morning clearing debris and repairing roadways.
“We’ve got problems all over the place, roads washed out,” said Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff Wednesday morning.
By the end of the day, Berckenhoff reported all the roads in his precinct were open again.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann said most of the work in his territory involved removing trees and other debris from roadways.
Floodwater rushing across the roadways caused pavement to peel off the road surface in some areas, especially on Bryant Road and Schilhab Bottom Loop. Brossmann said the roads will remain rough but passable until crews can bring in dry material to make the repairs. He asked the public to drive slow on the damaged roads until repairs can be made.
In the Swiss Alp-Ammannsville area, Trees snapped in half lined both sides of Berger Road from the East Navidad River bottom to FM 1383.
Wednesday morning, the Record spoke with Ammannsville resident Larry Filip, who lives along Berger Road.
“I’ve was born and raised on this place, and this is the second time I’ve seen this,” Filip said.
“My nephew has a new 1,000 gallon water trough that was empty yesterday and it had six and a half inches of water in it after an hour and ten minutes,” he added. “And you know, with that wind shear, it didn’t catch all the rain that came down, either.”
His nephew, Chris Filip, lives next door. Two trees fell on his Jeep and a pickup truck, and the wind ripped a chimney off the side of his house. The winds picked up a metal parking canopy, which blew several hundred yards into the pasture across the fence.