Tornado leaves behind ‘significant’ path of destruction in Houston area

CNN More than homes were damaged Monday afternoon after a tornado ripped through Harris County Texas Constable Mark Herman noted in a Facebook post No serious injuries or deaths have been published after the storm noted Brian Murray spokesperson for the Harris County Office of Homeland Precaution and Urgency Management Earlier officers were combing through the debris searching for residents who may have been trapped or injured after the storm passed The National Weather Utility has substantiated a tornado struck the county but has yet to rate the storm s intensity Severe storms developed in the Houston area on Monday afternoon where warm temperatures were in place ahead of a cold front An unstable atmosphere combined with wind shear produced supercell thunderstorms which resulted in several tornado reports The constable called the storm a severe weather event that caused widespread and essential damage Trees snapped like toothpicks The Harris County Urgency Services campus was also in the path of the tornado and it ripped the roof and back wall off a maintenance building spokesperson Miranda Sevcik narrated reporters at the scene Two men were working in the building at the time and one held on to a rack while the other ducked under a table as the tornado touched down Sevcik revealed You can imagine how terrified they were but they were just fine at the end of it she declared No one on the campus was injured she added Large tree trunks on the campus snapped like toothpicks during the twister Sevcik reported She was in another building when the tornado tore through and was notified to go to the designated area for severe weather What sounded like hail turned out to just be the shutters dropping and then all of a sudden you could feel the pressure drop and then it just got really really quiet Sevcik described It went by very very fast And then we opened the doors thankfully and we saw the damage We re like oh my gosh just like matchsticks Footage captures magnitude of destruction Drone video of the destruction revealed the extent of the damage which included torn-off rooftops and debris strewn across yards and pools Photos posted by the Cy-Fair Fire Department also revealed shattered windows broken fences damaged roofs and debris scattered through the area Residents are urged to avoid traveling if viable as there is widespread debris and downed power lines in the impacted neighborhoods Harris County officers commented in another post Our priority is the safety of our residents Herman mentioned a post We are using every stock available to locate the injured secure the area and encouragement our area through this emergency Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch until a m CT for much of eastern Texas including Houston The watch also extends into portions of western and central Louisiana CNN s Briana Waxman contributed to this account