Dateline: June 24, 2004

Storm batters Howardwick

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise  

High winds gave Howardwick a beating Monday night, but residents there are giving thanks that no community members were hurt.

“Everybody’s safe,” said Mayor Nancy Davis, who admitted the storm did shake up the town. “We’re walking ghosts some of us, but I’m so proud of this community. I can’t say enough about the good people we have here.”

Residents say they received between 2.25 and 2.5 inches of rain in a very short amount of time and estimated winds were blowing between 75 and 90 miles per hour.

The major force of the storm appears to have hit about 11:30 p.m. when Greenbelt Electric Cooperative began losing service to some parts of the city. Three highline poles were broken down, and several tree limbs were caught in the lines, a Greenbelt official said.

The electric company anticipated having power restored by noon Tuesday. Phone service was also still down in parts of the community Tuesday morning.

Mayor Davis dispatched city aldermen to survey the damage to the community by sectors early Tuesday. The city then directed workers to the areas hardest hit and the residents most in need of assistance.

Damage ranged from tree limbs being broken all over town to an entire trailer house being overturned.

Carolyn Robinson said the trees were blowing terribly at her home on Catfish Street about 11:30.

“We heard something in the distance that sounded like a train,” she said.

Robinson said she and her husband never felt like they needed to go to the cellar, but her feelings changed after seeing the damage around their home Tuesday morning.

“I was kind of scared last night, but I am really scared this morning.”

The Robinsons’ boat, which had been parked under a carport near their garage, was lying in the grass 35 feet away from its original location. The windshield of the boat was shattered with pieces of glass blown clear across the street. The boat trailer was off to the side of the boat, and their carport was a crumpled wreck in a ravine a block and a half from their home.

A tall Russian olive tree was uprooted at the Monty Barefoot residence on Pampa Drive. City workers also discovered more trees down in the Barefoots’ backyard.

On Franklyn Street, Buster Baird reported a 30-foot cottonwood tree broke completely in two about five feet from the ground. Down the hill from him, two highline poles snapped on McCool Drive.

A 40-foot cottonwood at Stan Couch’s Olita Drive residence was also shattered by the storm. Tree limbs were deposited all around the home, but fortunately no damage was done to the structure.

“It was a blessing from God that it didn’t hit the house,” Couch said. “This I can fix.”

An unoccupied trailer house owned by Hulon Bright on Francklyn Drive was tipped over on its side.

On Swanson Street, another trailer house owned by D.W. Rankins had its roof completely ripped off. The roof landed partly on the fence of a neighboring residence, and the north wall of Rankins’ trailer was partially caved in.

The Howardwick City Park also received damage in the form of broken tree limbs.

“It will take days to clean everything up,” Mayor Davis said.

At Lake Greenbelt, water authority officials said the parks and other areas had no damage other than scattered tree limbs. The filter plant reported receiving 1.13 inches of rain. The lake had risen one inch to a depth of 60.58 feet by 10:30 a.m., and Carroll Creek was still running good at that time.

Clarendon experienced only broken tree limbs, and National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Tommie Saye reported an official rainfall of 1.21 inches.