Strongest January storm in five years

AUSTIN (KXAN) - January tornadoes in the Austin Metro Area are a rarity. Wednesday morning's tornado was the first in five years.

“It just sounds like an explosion,” said Lester Jensen, who works in the industrial business park near the intersection of Old Manor Road and Commercial Park Drive, where the tornado began its path just before 3 a.m.

"[It was] like the finale of the fireworks,” said Mark Badgely, who also works in the area. “Boom!”

The National Weather Service is still working to determine the strength of this tornado. It ripped through the area for just seven minutes.

"Lot of the HVAC units on the buildings all around here were stripped off the rooftops,” said Battalion Chief Palmer Buck of the Austin Fire Department.

The tornado grew to 50 yards wide and traveled 1.25 miles from those businesses to a small neighborhood near the intersection of Samson Road and Ferguson Lane.

No one was hurt, but some homes had damage.

"The tops of the trees were all gone," said Leslie Albrecht, who lives in one of those houses.

Only one family suffered severely, as the tornado ripped the roof completely off their house. A 10-year-old daughter woke her parents, so they moved to a safer location.

"I could hear all the sticks and the roofing snapping,” said Mike Bennett about the house he built. “We had no idea the whole roof had went. We tried to seek shelter in the hallway. The roof started pouring water on us."

This was one of three tornadoes in Texas overnight: San Antonio, Rocksprings and Austin.

In the last half century, the Austin metro area has seen 234 tornadoes, based on annual tornado occurrence data. January tornadoes are rare though, as only 12 have happened here during that time.

In fact, the last was on Jan. 13, 2007 -- the strongest January storm the Austin Metro Area had seen in five years. A tornado touched down in San Marcos, and two women drowned that day.

"You lose some material things, you realize what's important,” said Bennett. “My family didn't get hurt, and we were able to save our pets. That's all that really matters."

As emergency crews worked to rescue people from flooding across the area Wednesday, the tornado's path actually was a bit of a benefit. Just 500 yards from the businesses where it started is a hangar where STAR Flight parks its helicopter – a narrow miss for such a useful tool during this type of weather event.