AUGUST 12, 2015
Five privately owned airplanes at Hardin County's public airport were destroyed Tuesday, and at least three more were damaged significantly, when strong winds from an afternoon thunderstorm pushed through the Kountze airstrip, the airport's office manager said.
No wind-related injuries were immediately reported at the airport or elsewhere in Hardin County, Sheriff Ed Cain said.
Office manager Pam Dunlap said the strip's main hangar sustained roof damage and one of the airplanes was pushed into its wall.
National Weather Service Lake Charles meteorologist Donald Jones said it was "extremely unlikely" that the powerful winds resulted from a tornado. Instead, he said it was likely a case of a "microburst," which happens when rainfall rapidly cools air, which in turn starts to flow quickly toward the ground until it can drop no further and bursts in all directions. Such events, generally, can generate wind speeds between 60 and 80 mph, Jones said.
"While we did have a couple of members of the public call in and say there was a tornado, that is extremely unlikely," Jones said.
The weather service reported Tuesday evening wind speeds in Beaumont reached 48 mph.
Dunlap, who was at the Kountze airport when the storm hit, said she last saw the facility's wind-speed tracker read 40 mph. Not long afterward, at close to 4 p.m., she took shelter underneath her desk during what she believed to be a tornado, she said.
"I was under the desk and could hear the roar," Dunlap said. "There's no mistaking it."
About 21 airplanes are typically parked at the airport, located off Highway 327 in Kountze, Dunlap said.
Dunlap said airport officials were still assessing the damage and potential costs.
A wrecker service was called to remove some aircraft from Joe Register Road. A fence separating the road from the airport where the planes were tied down with nylon rope was not damaged, indicating the planes were lifted over the fence after the ropes snapped, Dunlap said.
"The airplanes were picked up, lifted over the fence and carried into the trees east of the field," she said.
Posted: Aug 12, 2015KOUNTZE, Texas (AP) -
HARDIN COUNTY, TEXAS
Authorities say eight small airplanes were flipped or otherwise severely damaged as storms blew through Southeast Texas.
Officials at Hawthorne Field in Kountze (koontz), 80 miles northeast of Houston, say the bad weather hit late Tuesday afternoon.
Hardin County Sheriff Ed Cain says nobody was hurt.
Airport operator Dale Williford says early estimates indicate five planes were destroyed, while three were damaged. Some of the tethered private planes were blown into a wooded area. The main hangar at Hawthorne Field has roof damage.
The National Weather Service says the winds were likely caused by a microburst, when rainfall rapidly cools the air and conditions quickly change. Forecaster Donald Jones says such events can generate winds topping 60 mph.
Storms father north, in Tyler, damaged trees and downed some power lines.