HOUSTON The National Weather Service confirmed late Tuesday that at least one tornado touched down in the Houston area Tuesday morning.
The EF0 tornado -- with winds from 65 to85 mph -- caused extensive roofdamage toan apartment complexBaytown.
I heard a loud, like, boom, Pamela Quallssaid. It was like boom. Like something just hit!
Heavy winds ripped several sections of roof off the Bay Harbor Apartments on E. James.The Red Cross said 16 units were damaged at the Bay Harbor Apartments on East James.
And I saw a piece of plywood like Aladdin s lamp just flying through the air, Qualls said.
70 miles away near Brazoria, Rick French said remnants of his metal roof look like the work of a twister too.
Some people that I know seen it down the road from me there, he said. One-hundred-forty squares of this building that peeled off, because of probably an F1 or F2 tornado.
Heavy winds peeled off up to a quarter of the roof of his storage business on FM 521.The gusts tossed the metal, wood and insulation into twisted piles in his parking lot on the other side of his building.
Whether it was a tornado, or something less, 11 News found several miles of splintered and broken evidence along the path of the storm in the neighborhoods south of Rick French s store.
It sounded like a freight train coming through, said Alan Brinkmeyer, standing in his front yard with more than a dozen large trees splintered and snapped in half.
I didn t know it was a tornado at the time. But afterwards yeah it sure looked like it, he said.
Brinkmeyer said he has more tree damage from the 45-second storm than he did after Hurricane Ike in 2008.The damage included the metal roof of a small barn at the back of his property.Pieces of that metal roof were tossed 50 yards away, and two large pieces wrapped around a big tree 30 feet in the air.
Wind damage was also reported in Garden Oaks, Bellaire and Richmond.
No one was hurt.
