[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen Kyle resident Ruben Cantu arrived at his property Monday morning, he realized the first phone call he needed to make was to his insurance adjuster.
He was forced to make the call after a mobile home located on his property near Mathias Lane and Golden Cove in Kyle was completely destroyed during Sunday’s violent thunderstorm that raged through the area.
Cantu said no one was injured as the homeowners, who have not been identified, were out of town when the storm hit.
But the damage was evident the next morning as neighbors, whose yards were decorated with insulation from the totaled structure, went out to glimpse the damaged building for themselves.
“At least nobody was home,” Cantu said to neighbor Mary Viescas regarding the amount of damage to the mobile home.
Viescas said the homeowners had just moved the mobile home onto the property had not yet secured it to the ground when the storm hit.
“They had just spent $7,000 remodeling it too,” Viescas said as she surveyed the damage of her new neighbors’ home.
Viescas said she and her husband, as well as other neighbors, heard a big “bang” during the storm, which could have possibly come from the wind ripping apart the mobile home nearby.
Viescas said damage to her own property was minimal; however, there were trampolines twisted into knots after slamming into adjacent houses along Mathias Way.
She added the gas company had to shut off service around 8:30 a.m. due to the lines being damaged by a flying trampoline.
On Tuesday, The National Weather Service confirmed two small tornadoes in the Kyle-Buda area. The NWS also confirmed a tornado in the San Antonio area that caused extensive damage to homes.
However, the storm which swept across Hays County, produced high winds that were as high as 59 miles per hour in the Kyle area.
According to the Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s outage website, roughly 4,300 people experienced power outages in its service area at 1 a.m. Monday.
As a result of the storm, many fences across Kyle, including those in the Hometown Kyle subdivision, were damaged, said Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett. Damage was also reported at Central Texas Speedway.
Much of the more serious damage was seen in parts of east Kyle and in Niederwald.
Charlotte Carroll Green said in a message to the Hays Free Press that most sheds in the Kai Vista Neighborhood were damaged or destroyed in the storm. She said her shed room was blown across her driveway and her porch roof was “peeled back.”
Niederwald resident Michelle Harris said she heard what sounded like a “roaring” sound similar to an aircraft engine revving up when the storm hit.
She said a 200-pound barbecue pit on her property was picked up and turned around. A basketball goal that was cemented into the ground was picked up and was “twisted.” She believed a tornado may have swept through the area.
“If you’ve been in Texas long enough, you know,” Harris said.
