Storm brings destructive power to area
Contributed/Katina McCurry
Hannah McCurry, daughter of Katina McCurry, checks out what is remaining of the roof on their home on Burnet County Road 200.
By Savanna Gregg and Lew K. Cohn
The Highlander
A Tuesday evening storm pummeled Burnet County as straight-line winds left destruction in their wake and heavy rain flooded Hill Country roadways.
The raging storm hit the northern section of Burnet County at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, and seemed to come out of the blue to many residents, especially those located near Bertram and the surrounding area.
Residents reported damage to their properties and spent the morning after cleaning up the mess left by the hurricane-like storm, something not entirely common to the area.
At one point during the storm, traffic heading towards Bertram on Texas 29 was diverted onto Burnet County Road 303 as reported tornadic activity and a downed power line created dangerous conditions for commuters, even as CR 303 was inundated with rain, Precinct 3 Commissioner Billy Wall said.
Meanwhile, telephone poles snapped like twigs on Ranch to Market Road 243, especially near the Oatmeal area, and trees were down on County Roads 103 and 108. Wall credited Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther Jr. for coming to his assistance in helping Precinct 3 residents Tuesday.
“Put a gold star by Jim's name for Tuesday because he was really out there working hard in his precinct and then helping us out as well,” Wall said.
In the aftermath, it was found that most of the damage occurred in the area between Bertram and Oatmeal, considering the amount of photos submitted and resident reports of structural damage and felled trees on various county roads in eastern Burnet County
Katina McCurry, who lives about two and a half miles down County Road 200, submitted photos of their house, where a tree was uprooted and the roof was blown off. The McCurry family spent their morning repairing their roof with high spirits, as seen in a photo of her daughter, who is familiar with this type of occurrence.
“We've had quite a bit of damage over the years living on these hills,” McCurry said. “[Hannah] has always been a huge help in rebuilding, along with her other sisters. We couldn't do it without them.”
City of Burnet employees were seen transporting felled trees around town throughout the day, and Burnet's many tree companies had their work cut out for them on Wednesday, May 16, as the community worked together to clean up the mess of the night before.
