Published: June 11, 2009 06:59 pm      

Thunderstorms wreck havoc

Heavy rains, high winds bring down trees and knocks out power across the county

Strong thunderstorms brought heavy rains and high winds to Henderson County Wednesday and Thursday, downing dozens of trees and interrupting power for thousands of residents.

Daniel Huckaby, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Fort Worth office, said the system hit Henderson County a little before sunset, Wednesday.

“There was a measured gust of wind at the Cedar Creek Lake Spillway of 52 miles per hour,” Huckaby said. “That was at about 8:55 p.m. The winds Thursday morning were not quite as strong. There was a reported gust of about 45 miles per hour in Athens at about 5 a.m.”

Residents in several counties reported unofficial rainfall that exceeded 2 inches. The Athens Daily Review measured about 2.5 inches overnight.

“Henderson County was one of the areas that picked up the heaviest rain during this event”, Huckaby said.

Oncor Electric Delivery Area Manager Brenda Walker said the multiple storm cells produced widespread power outages.

“Out of the Athens service center — which includes not only Athens, but Mabank, Eustace the Cedar Creek area and Trinidad — it looks like we have about 5,000 without power,” Walker said Thursday morning.

Walker said less than 1,000 of the outages were Athens addresses.

“We have crews at various sites right now trying to get the power restored,” she said.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Joe Hall said the storms did not cause any significant flooding on the west end of the county, but downed about 100 trees.

“We have them from one end of the precinct to the other,” Hall said. “Trees and limbs are everywhere. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for a storm like that.”

On the other side of the county Pct. 4, Commissioner Jerry West said his crews also encountered dozens of downed trees.

“We just finished one down at Rainbow Lake Road that was a huge one—all the way across the road.” West said.

An Athens Independent School District Bus — bringing students to summer school — was delayed by a blocked roadway, West said.

“Where one of our county roads comes into Farm-to-Market Road 804 a tree had the intersection blocked,” he said. “It couldn’t go anywhere because there was no place to turn around.”

The Henderson County Sheriff’s Department received dozens of calls reporting alarms set off, blocked roads and downed power lines. Fortunately, officials said, there were no weather related injuries.

The Athens Police Department received a call at 4:55 a.m. reporting a vehicle stuck in high water at a low spot on West Corsicana Street. Corporal Roger Keith was dispatched to the scene, along with officers James Graham and Dana Dykes, and a unit from the Athens Fire Department. Officers were able to move the vehicle out of the water to higher ground.

According to Associated Press reports, the storms caused problems with air travel and delayed some flights arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport by more than two hours. At the Ballpark in Arlington, the rain was so heavy that the centerfield fence wasn't visible from the press box and the Texas Rangers' game with the Toronto Blue Jays was canceled.

In East Texas, a tornado warning was issued for north Smith County and southern Wood County expired at 10 p.m. Wednesday. There was also an unconfirmed report of a tornado on the Smith/Wood County line.