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Strong Storms Bring Death, Destruction to Texas Panhandle
Lubbock, TX, Avalanche-Journal ^ | 06-23-2004 | Morris News Service

Posted on 06/23/2004 6:00:20 AM PDT by Theodore R.

Strong storms bring death, destruction to Panhandle

MORRIS NEWS SERVICE

One fatality was attributed to the storms Monday night that battered the Texas Panhandle, bringing winds of more than 70 mph and hail the size of baseballs as residents scrambled to recover Tuesday.

Bobbie Kidd, general manager at Greenbelt Lake near Clarendon, said Tuesday that an unidentified Amarillo man was killed when the wind flipped a boat onto him while he was trying to tie it up to shore.

Official word on whether the man died of injuries from the boat or was drowned was not immediately available.

The Monday night storms caused at least $100 million in damage, said Sandra Ray, spokeswoman for Southwestern Insurance Information Service.

"Insurers and adjusters are saying this is one of the worst storms they have seen in the Panhandle and West Texas in 20 years," Ray said. "It's so bad."

Fierce winds and hail forced the relocation of hospital patients and the tiniest of newborns Monday night.

At Baptist-St. Anthony's Health System, patients were moved into hallways and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was evacuated when the storm broke out windows on the north side of the facility.

"It looks like the damage that we have here is to the windows," said Mary Barlow, a spokeswoman for Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital in Amarillo. "We know that it's going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The storms smashed almost all windows on one side of the six-story hospital and staff moved patients to the interior of the building. Barlow said Tuesday that about 100 rooms in the 410-bed hospital were affected. One patient sustained non-life threatening injuries.

She said the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit was hit and about a dozen babies had to be moved to the regular newborn nursery. By mid-morning Tuesday, the infants had been returned to their regular unit, smashed windows had been boarded up and debris had been cleared.

Homes and vehicles in the Amarillo area also were damaged by hail up to baseball size. Windows were smashed on cars on some dealers' lots, and a Wal-Mart Super Center closed because its skylights were shattered.

Heavy rain flooded some underpasses and rural roads, and Hartley County Sheriff Franky Scott said water was up to 4 feet deep in some areas for a time Monday night.

Some stores, such as Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse and Home Depot, extended their hours to allow people to get emergency supplies.

The National Weather Service confirmed tornadoes west and northwest of Amarillo, said Matthew Kramar of the National Weather Service.

Steve Drillette, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said a tornado touched down west of Bushland, north of Interstate 40 at 7:15 p.m, crossing I-40 briefly.

The service recorded 0.77 inches of rain and winds as high as 68 mph at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

The largest hail reported was softball-size. At Palo Duro Canyon State Park, those who ventured from their sites in the back of the park were stranded when the No. 2 crossing flooded, said park manager Hi Newby.

"Texas Legacies," the musical performed on the canyon floor, was canceled, and those staying at the park were put in available sites and cabins in the front section of the park.

The Randall County Sheriff's Department received a report of a roof blown completely off a home near Nance Road and Washington Street.

The Potter County Sheriff's Department received reports that overhead doors had blown off some businesses off Hope Road, Officer Belden Dampf said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: amarillo; greenbeltlake; hartleyco; neonatalunit; paloduro; panhandle; stanthonys; storms; texaslegacies; tx

1 posted on 06/23/2004 6:00:21 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.

Yep, this one was a lulu! Our part of town got only a few golf-ball sized hailstones, but lots of wind. Not much damage. Many of the newest (and most expensive) homes in SW Amarillo got quite a bit of damage from the huge hail! There were several baby tornadoes appearing and reappearing, but there doesn't seem to have been much damage from them. There WAS one area of town where the hail was grapefruit (and a few larger)sized. It literally went through roofs and then the sheetrock. Hundreds of cars driving around yesterday with plastic taped over busted-out windshields.

Just another fun-filled evening in the Texas Panhandle!


2 posted on 06/23/2004 6:09:40 AM PDT by Maria S ("And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm."George W. Bush 1/20/01)
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To: Maria S

As I youth, I was stranded more than once by rising water cutting off the roads in Palo Duro Canyon. Nice to know some things never change.


3 posted on 06/23/2004 6:00:59 PM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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