HOUSTON – The sound of hail pounding against Muhammad Tareque’s Sugarland home alerted him to look outside, where he found marble-sized hail.
“I started hearing noises, like I wasn’t sure what’s going on, like 50 people fighting or fencing or something,” Tareque said. “It looked like a hundred frogs jumping into the pool.”
The hail in Bellville looked like a winter wonderland.
“It looks like we’re not even in Texas anymore. It looked like they took our house and put it in the mountains,” Cynthia Wilson said.
Wilson added that the storm shook her house as she and her grandbabies took cover.
“It just kept going for, I want to say, 20 minutes. It was a really long time, and I just didn’t think it was going to no end,” Wilson said.
Wilson walked outside to find roughly two feet of hail. Her son was seen shoveling it out of the driveway.
Driving around Bellville, Wilson saw homes under construction that were demolished from the storm. She said her home also had damage.
“We have windows out. My husband’s truck has a window that just got replaced and now it’s getting replaced again,” Wilson said.
Despite the damage, Wilson said she’s grateful no one was hurt.
Bellville Police posted an update on Facebook Friday night:
“Just an update, incident command for the storm today has now since been terminated. No injuries were reported. An abundance of damage was seen primarily on the south side of Bellville. Those that were affected with home damage have since found shelter with family and friends. Emergency responders from within our region worked through the afternoon to ensure that all those that were affected were accounted for and safe. We would like to thank all the first responders and citizens who offered up their assistance today. There will be city electric crews, as well as local and non-local electric crews, working throughout the night to restore power. We greatly appreciate their efforts in getting the city’s power back up and running. Please know that many utility poles and lines went down during the storm. Estimated times for power restoration could be as much as 6-8 hours, and maybe even more. Thank you for your continued patience and support.”