Resident: Tornado touched down just outside his house

A man and his family had to take cover in the bathroom of their house because what he said was a tornado touched down just outside the residence in the far east side of the city Thursday afternoon.

Social media posts online showed video of downed trees and debris Thursday afternoon along Meadowbrook Road, but for local resident Miguel Alvarado, the storm hit much closer to home.

Alvarado, who lives on the 1800 block of Meadowbrook Road and who works in construction, said that he and his family were inside their home when he suddenly heard a noise.

“It was a loud sound, but I can’t describe what kind of sound it was,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said that he went to the front door to look outside and saw a lot of limbs.

“I got scared,” Alvarado said, adding that he grabbed his wife and their son to run to the bathroom.

Alvarado said that a large tree in the part of the front yard by the driveway fell and missed hitting his pickup truck. Alvarado also said that the tree reared back up.

Alvarado pointed out that a tree was damaged in a neighbor’s yard immediately to the north of his residence. He also pointed out that a large tree fell in another neighbor’s yard nearby.

He said that he was “100 percent” certain what occurred was a tornado and noted that he saw twisting motions during the incident, which he estimated lasted three or four seconds. He said that he did not know what time the incident occurred.

Alvarado said that his wife and his son are OK and that there was no loss of electric service.

Alvarado’s brothers were helping him cut parts of the damaged tree close to his residence for placement alongside Meadowbrook for city crews to take away.

No official information about what happened was available from city officials. Fire Department Administrative Capt. Catina Phillips, who doubles as the department’s public information officer, said in an email that the department did not receive a call for that incident.