HOUSTON — The National Weather Service confirmed Monday that yet another tornado touched down over the weekend as severe storms moved through the area.
Evidence of a tornado track was found in the Spring Branch area, according to details provided by a survey team. The tornado was rated as a low-end EF-1 with estimated winds of 90 mph, the National Weather Service said.
EF-1 damage was also found by survey teams Sunday near Humble and EF-0 damage near Montgomery. The survey teams also found an EF-1 tornado hit the Kingwood area.
Scientists use the Fujita scale to measure tornado damage intensity. An EF-0 means winds were between 40 and 72 mph, and an EF-1 tornado has winds between 73 and 112 mph.
Multiple buildings were destroyed and damage was widespread in the Humble area.
“It’s just devastating. It’s like starting all over again," said Icelande Robinson, whose business was impacted. "And it’s crazy because we just had the talk the day before, just planning the first quarter and things that we were going to do differently and things that were going to do differently to help our business, and it’s like less than 24 hours and it’s gone.”
In Montgomery, the storms ripped roofs off of businesses and homes, some of them under construction just northeast of downtown.
The National Weather Service also said video showed what was believed to be an EF-0 tornado that had touched down near Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday.
An eyewitness also reported what may have been an EF-0 tornado struck near Dayton in Liberty County, but weather service staff needed to gather more specifics before making a final determination.
In addition to those storms, National Weather Service officials said a tornado may have touched down in the Plum Grove area, but staff was still looking into those reports.
The tornadoes were spawned from storms that formed as a front moved northward across the Houston area Saturday, prompting multiple severe thunderstorms, tornados, and flash flood warnings across the region.
Power outages from the storms continued into Sunday afternoon for thousands of customers.