WEATHER ALERT
Gage Goulding, Reporter, Houston, TX
Oscar Chavez, Photojournalist
Published: December 27, 2024, at 3:46 PM
HOUSTON – The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado briefly touched down in Southwest Houston on Thursday, amidst a series of tornadoes across Texas. A small but powerful tornado caused isolated damage in the Meadows Place neighborhood near Kirkwood Road and Bissonnet Street. According to a National Weather Service survey, wind speeds exceeded 90 miles per hour. Several homes along Plumbrook Drive sustained damage, with one home belonging to Tanrita Johnson, a single mother of six, suffering severe damage.
“To look at all the damage—the garage door was gone, windows missing, the roof fell in. It’s kind of hard to look at,” Johnson told KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding. “It could have been worse. Lives could have been lost.” Johnson and her family, including their dog, were not home when the tornado touched down around 2:30 p.m. “It’s a blessing to still have my children,” she reflected. When asked about the possibility of being home during the tornado, she admitted, “Yes, because I was like, what if I was home? I probably would have tried to run out because the windows came in to see what was going on.”
Neighboring security cameras captured the tornado moving through the neighborhood. One camera recorded a USPS mail truck being overturned with the postal worker still inside. Fortunately, the worker was unharmed and able to escape. A USPS spokesperson stated, “The safety and well-being of our employees are of the utmost importance…we can report that the USPS employee is safe and recovering. The postal vehicle was retrieved…and the mail was recovered immediately.”
This video footage, along with other evidence, helped the National Weather Service determine the event. Lance Wood from the Science and Operations Office at the National Weather Service explained, “There is some evidence of some twisting…So, this really looks like a brief touchdown and then that’s it.” Wood was monitoring radar during the issuance of tornado warnings on Thursday. However, he noted that a small, fast-moving tornado like this one can sometimes go undetected by radar. When asked if a warning had been issued for this specific cell, Wood responded, “No. We put out a significant weather advisory…but there was no tornado warning for this particular cell. I think it just happened too fast.”
Johnson now faces the immediate challenge of finding shelter for herself and her children. “I really do need help,” she said. The American Red Cross is assessing the damage and providing assistance, focusing on Johnson’s severely damaged home. “This is going to take a while…So, I have to do something,” Johnson concluded.
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