One person was killed and as many as two dozen injured after multiple tornadoes moved into the Houston area on Saturday, bringing extremely strong winds resulting in extensive damage.
The first tornado came about 10:45 am, after dark clouds moved in and residents of the Katy area noticed a funnel cloud on the ground, shooting debris up into the air. It was apparently moving to the north.
About ten minutes later a tornado was reported by someone in the Cypress area to the north, along Highway 290 at Spring-Cypress Road.
Then about 12:10 pm at least one tornado was reported far to the northeast in East Montgomery County, near Porter Heights, where as many as 100 homes were damaged as the storm ravaged the area, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Smith, who added that there were two people sent to hospitals.
A total of ten were injured in Montgomery County, but none were said to be critical.
Then after 1 pm, tornadoes ripped through Brazoria County, south of Houston, resulting in one death.
A Brazoria County Sheriff's spokesman said there were "multiple touchdown points for the twister, meaning it would pull up off the ground and drop to the surface elsewhere a minute or two later.
Some of the strongest winds reported were in a stretch of the county between Hillcrest Village and Liverpool, south of Alvin.
Damage was said to be extensive there, and in the Alvin-Pearland area, with RVs upended and some homes severely damaged, other homes completely destroyed -- but many homes almost untouched by the tornadoes.
One person was killed near the City of Manvel, along Highway 6 southwest of its intersection with Highway 288, according to Manvel Mayor Dan Davis Jr, and there was extensive damage, some homes completely destroyed.
Then by 3 pm, witnesses said they saw a twister near the City of Winnie, not far from the Gulf Coast in Chambers County, flipping trucks and downing utility poles, tearing up a few buildings.
Damage in that area southeast of Houston reportedly caused county officials to close down Highway 24 (which runs parallel to Interstate 10) for a day or two to assess damage, according to Sheriff Brian Hawthorne's office.
The assessments of damages in the cases of all four tornado-stricken areas are expected to take at least the rest of the weekend.
The day of storms follows at least five storms reported to have hit Southeast Texas on the day after Christmas, but no casualties were reported.
