NEAR KATY, TX – A tornado leaves behind a huge mess near Katy where several homes and businesses are damaged.
Two guys survived it all by hunkering down inside a cooler at the bar they were working at.
“I’m pretty sure the roof got lifted off,” said Kevin and Jason who both work at the Bourbon Street Sports Bar.
“It was definitely rumbling, uh it built up until . . . the rumble and rumble got stronger until the walls started shaking.”
They had seconds to react and got inside the bar’s cooler.
“I’m pretty sure the roof got lifted off on the front part and that’s why our AC is over here,” they said, pointing to the heavy AC unit the EF-1 tornado tore from the roof and threw to the ground.
LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
KPRC 2′s Corley Peel spoke with a woman who felt lucky to be alive after her fence was knocked down during the storm in the Memorial Parkway neighborhood. She shared cell phone video with KPRC2 showing a large branch that snapped from her tree and fell on top of her roof. A piece of her fence was lodged under her trampoline.
The woman’s niece, Jennifer Garcia rushed to help clean up the damage.
“She said that she actually felt kind of terrified because she felt the house moving kind of a little bit. When I got here she was like, thank God we’re alive,” said Garcia.
Several fences along their street were knocked down from the winds.
The shopping center behind their street of South Mason Road, was ground zero for the EF-1 tornado that the National Weather Service said had winds up to 90 miles an hour. The Firestone Auto Care was crumbled to the ground. The Bourbon Street Sports Bar also faced significant damage. Employees, Kevin and Jason were hiding inside a cooler as the storm rolled through.
“It was definitely rumbling, it built up. It got stronger and stronger and started shaking. Pretty sure the roof got lifted off, said the co-workers.
The bar’s large air conditioning unit was found in the parking lot.
An official with the National Weather Service said it appears the tornado was on the ground for a few minutes. NWS is still working to finalize their assessment. No one was seriously hurt from the storm. Harris County officials said one CenterPoint Energy did suffer a minor shock, but is expected to be ok.