EF-0 Tornado Damages Homes Overnight In DeSoto
DeSOTO, Texas (CBS11) - Heavy rain throughout the day added misery to the mess left behind after an EF-0 tornado touched down in DeSoto during overnight storms.
"We were just expecting rain and then this morning-- BOOM!" Felicia Davis says at about 4:00 a.m., a familiar sound, sounded the alarm.
"It really did sound like a locomotive," says Davis. "But it sounded like the locomotive hit our house! We were both fearful that the house was going to collapse, so he was like 'grab stuff and let's get out of here'."
At the Davis' home, a brick wall collapsed inward, covering a guest bedroom, while their roof is now adding to the debris scattered throughout the neighborhood.
"I'm three minutes away from here," says neighbor Dana Daniels. "It's amazing. It can happen anywhere... at any given time."
Mark Fox with the National Weather Service Fort Worth office toured the neighborhood late afternoon, taking note of the pattern of the damage-- with some homes heavily damaged while those just a couple of lots away were unscathed. "I'd say that winds were roughly 80 miles per hour," says Fox. "It looks to be a small tornado."
Lesley Spencer lives a few streets away. "While it was going on, I heard snapping, and then I heard something that sounded like the roof was coming off."
Because it was. During the storm, Spencer says his kitchen light fixture began collecting water, so he had just removed it.
"And just when I came out of the kitchen, the whole roof caved in. So I had just walked out of there." When it was suggested that Spencer was a "lucky" man, he quickly chose a different word. "A blessed man," he added with a smile.
His wet and weary neighbors absolutely agree.
"This is just property," says Davis, "but, we have our lives and that's the most important thing."