KERRVILLE, Texas — For the third day in a row, storms made their presence known in Kerrville, with sound, fury....and some hail and downed trees, too. Neighbors around town had barely started cleaning up after Wednesday's severe weather when more storms rolled in around 3 p.m. Thursday.
Leaves and branches could be seen on roof after roof. At one house, the fence was knocked down Sunday before part of the roof and a tree in the backyard were nothing but pieces on Thursday.
“Some people say they thought the storm a few days ago was worse, but for us in the area off Methodist Encampment where we live...this was worse than the one the other day," said Julie Kibbett, who lives on Ridgemont Lane, where it was hard to find a yard without any debris. "We didn’t lose power the other day, but with this one we were out of power for almost nine hours last night."
For Kibbett, the hail that could've passed for a blanket of snow in her front yard was the big deal.
“It was pretty amazing last night. I’ve never seen that much hail ever," she said. "When it was finally over and we looked outside, it looks like we had had a winter storm. It completely covered the ground.”
Meanwhile, the Wendy’s restaurant off Junction Highway was right in the bullseye of fierce winds Wednesday night. The sign? Virtually obliterated. Outbuildings were dented, showing clear signs of damage, and what used to be a live oak tree no longer stands.
Another tree easily about 30 feet tall was trapped in the drive-thru in water, making it resemble more of a moat.
“I prayed for them because those things are really serious,” said Pastor Del Way, of Calvary Temple Church.
Way took video Wednesday night when the wind was whipping and the rain was coming down, and said it was like nothing he’s ever seen before.
“Some debris, there was the wind was going in different directions, and then just hail like crazy.”
So much hail fell, in fact, that one of his friends stood nearly knee-deep in a pile of ice.
“This was probably one of the worst things I’ve seen in 34 years," Way said. "This was scary. I’ll have to admit, I had some anxiety there for a minute.”