LOVELADY, Texas -- Several buildings were damaged and an elderly woman suffered a cut to her leg when storms hit the small East Texas town of Lovelady late Sunday afternoon, officials said.
The National Weather Service in Houston says inspectors will go to the scene Monday to determine whether it was a tornado that caused high winds, which destroyed at least three mobile homes.
Houston County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy G. P. Shearer says eight structures were damaged, including minor damage to a high school.
At least two witnesses, Greg Wilson and Bruce Monk, captured the storm on camera. Their videos show what appears to be a large funnel cloud touching down.
We were sitting there watching CSI and the trees started shaking real bad, said resident Billy Adams.
The wind started blowing, coming out of nowhere, said Tasha Wosika. Derek s like this thunderstorm came out of nowhere, and Billy goes, I don t think this is no thunderstorm, and all of the sudden here comes the tornado straight through the yard.
Johnny Ramirez says his mobile home was destroyed when winds flipped it onto its roof. Thankfully, no one was home at the time.
Deputy Shearer said a woman received lacerations to her face and arm when a tree fell into her mobile home, but no other serious injuries were reported.
The woman was later identified as Tonya Cowger, 70. She tells KHOU 11 News she s more upset about losing her TV in the storm rather than the injury to her leg.
After hitting the mobile home community, the storm moved on to Lovelady High School about a half mile away. The school only suffered minor damage, so Monday's classes were not expected to be affected.
Lovelady has about 600 residents and is about 100 miles north of Houston.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
