Monday, June 23, 1997
Winds destroy Comanche County home
By JERRY DANIEL REED / Abilene Reporter-News
Residents of Comanche County prepared for a second round of
punishing storms Sunday night after twisters danced through the
county hours earlier, destroying several structures but causing
no reported injuries.
An elderly woman's mobile home at the Van Dyke community five
miles north of Comanche was blown apart, as were several barns
in the southwestern part of the county, while many trees were
uprooted.
"Jack" McGuire, a mobile home resident in her 80s,
went to stay with grandchildren after the early afternoon windstorm
destroyed her dwelling. Several Comanche County roads were also
closed for a while in the aftermath of pelting rains and wind
damage.
Hawley apparently was spared by a ominous cloud late in the
afternoon.
Kristy Peek of Tye was in Hawley when she and a friend spotted
what appeared to be a funnel-shaped cloud twirling in the sky
at about 5:20 p.m.
"I was at the Skinny's (convenience store) and we saw
the cloud on the north side of town," Peek said. "We
didn't really think much of it, though."
Peek said she had not planned to take cover unless the cloud
touched down, and it dissipated shortly thereafter.
Over most of the Big Country, Sunday's rains fell gently and
in small to moderate amounts. Still, much of the area remained
under flash flood warnings late into the evening.
The ground in many Big Country locales is already saturated,
and today's forecast calls for yet more showers and thunderstorms.
Abilene's 1997 rainfall accumulation stood almost 4 inches above
normal for this late June date, and most major area lakes continued
to overflow their spillways. (Correspondents Suzanne Gaines and
Carolyn Mathews contributed to this report.)
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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