Weather commands center stage in Wimberley

A violent storm with hail and 100 mileper- hour straight line winds created havoc in Wimberley last Thursday as citizens experienced shredded foliage, uprooted trees, broken windows, damaged roofs, punched siding and dented cars. A large hackberry tree was uprooted behind the Gypsy Market on the square and fell on the building’s roof, impacting the neighboring Senior Citizens Craft Shop by pulling down power lines and the exterior electrical panel. A tree in the HEB parking lot was uprooted and the grocer’s Bootiful Boot sculpture and grocery basket were turned over. Crews could be seen on Friday removing the damage and trimming trees in the parking area. In Woodcreek, hail pelted porches and roofs and blew down limbs. Along River road, huge trees were pulled down by winds. Cars traveling along RR12 sustained smashed windshields and dented exteriors.

The National Weather Service’s damage survey posted on Friday found “widespread wind damage from a severe storm on Thursday that moved through Llano. . . the Johnson City Area. . . Wimberley. . . San Marcos and then continued east of I-35 through Martindale, Staples and locations farther east. The strongest winds are estimated to have occurred from a microburst with max winds of 70 to 80 miles per hour.” While early reports alerted residents to the possibility of a tornado, one did not appear to have touched down.

The Saddleridge neighborhood, four miles south of Wimberley on the northeast corner of RRs12 and 32, appears to have been the hardest hit. Homes were heavily damaged by high velocity winds that smashed through multiple windows, tore roofs off, tossed furniture and debris, rendering some homes uninhabitable.

One homeowner in the neighborhood, who asked not to be identified, said she sheltered with her family in an interior closet and took a video of the walls shaking from the fierce wind. “For an intense 20 minutes we heard breaking glass, the roar of the wind, and crashing as debris pummeled the house. We found hail damage on interior walls and shards of glass driven into the ceiling 50 feet from the window. The roof was peeled from half of the structure and rain soaked the interior.” According to the homeowner, representatives from the Red Cross said her home appeared to be the worst they’d seen.

Cleanup is expected to continue throughout the week.