NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS WASHINGTON CO. STORM DAMAGE CAUSED BY UP TO 80 MPH IN STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS

  

The National Weather Service is reporting that Washington County experienced straight-line winds of up to 80 miles per hour in Wednesday’s storms, which caused significant damage in the eastern portion of the county.

Dan Reilly, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Galveston, said the county suffered high-end wind damage indicative of winds between 70 and 80 miles per hour, blowing from the northwest to the southeast.

Reilly said, while the county did not see a tornado, the predominantly straight-line winds seen Wednesday had the strength of one.  He said hundreds of trees were uprooted during Wednesday’s storms, many of them large and well-established.  He described the scale of Wednesday’s damage as “quite impressive”.

Reilly said the winds impacted a very large area, particularly the northeast quadrant of Washington County.  He said they ranged from Independence and Washington to about ten miles south of Washington, two-thirds of the way to Chappell Hill.  He added there was even a tornado touchdown in Waller County, with some tornadic damage there.

Click here to see photos from Wednesday's storms.