“This was a horrific deal last night.”
Brant Pee was watching a drag race on TV Sunday night inside his Trinity County home when the storm hit.
Recommended Videos
- FRANK’S BLOG: Did the Houston area just get hit by a Tropical Storm?
Home destroyed, injuries reported after strong storm moves through Trinity County
“The, the air. Like I say, the the stuff’s just started blowing off the back porch. Big fan. Our tables, our chairs. Then my wife is trying to get in the house, and it was trying to take the door,” Pee told KPRC 2 Photographer Cesar Martinez.
When the danger seemed done, Pee could see damage outside with trees down. He immediately called to check on his neighbors Jimmy and Adela.
He’d sold them his old trailer and wanted to make sure they were okay.
Four times he called.
No answer.
So he got in his golf cart and drove down the road to find the trailer gone -- just obliterated -- and no sign of Jimmy or Adele.
“So I immediately resorted to screaming their names. Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy! And then Miss Adela, his wife, popped up back there in the pasture.”
Still yelling for Jimmy, Pee said he soon heard him moaning.
“I found him underneath the trailer house frame, and went to resorting to asking him, are you okay? Trying to comfort them.”
Pee found Jimmy was “beat up pretty badly” and could hardly talk. Bryant called 911 and got Jimmy out from under the trailer as lightning continued to strike around them.
“I was trying to keep Jimmy awake. . . keep him going until we could get help here. . . Me and Adela, his wife, we started saying a prayer because I mean the rain and stuff just wouldn’t go. It kept going on and one, it’s kinda like it was a dream.”
Medics got Jimmy to the hospital where, according to Pee, he had surgery for some internal injuries and is in critical but stable condition.
We learned late in the day that Jimmy is Lt. James “Jimmy” Waller, a 22-year veteran of the Conroe Police Department.
In a GoFundMe post for the Wallers, it says: “In the aftermath of a devastating tornado in Trinity, TX., LT. Jimmy Waller and his wife, Adela, find themselves grappling with loss and uncertainty. In addition to losing their home, LT. Waller suffered injuries that will require hospitalization and multiple surgeries. LT. Waller and Adela face a long road to recovery, both physically and mentally.”
Pee also found the couple’s two dogs and is taking care of them.
The National Weather Service confirmed EF-1 tornado damage in the Rock Creek Subdivision off FM 356 west of Sebastopol.
WEATHER HISTORY: 13 years since the April 27, 2011 Super Outbreak