Storm causes countywide outages

Storms that hit overnight Sunday, June 16, kept firefighters and electrical crews busy throughout the night and into the next day.

Winds reached speeds of 60 plus miles per hour. The massive thunder shook homes and severe lightning strikes were a danger throughout the county.

According to Justin Stapleton, approximately 3,000 Mid-South Synergy meters were affected by the storm creating power outages. As of Monday afternoon, 74 meters were still without power throughout the entire service area.

“Most of the outages were caused by vegetation or trees and lightning was a substantial contributor for those outages as well,” said Stapleton. “All things considered this storm wasn’t too bad. We’ve dealt with much worse.”

Stapleton said the bulk of the outages were reported in the Roans Prairie and Dobbin area. Some crews were contracted to help with clearing right of ways and removing trees from power lines. He also said at the time of the remaining 74 outages crews were on scene at most of them.

Richards Volunteer Firefighters responded to numerous calls throughout the night. “We were called to a burning utility pole on CR 214, and to aid Montgomery Fire Department with a structure fire on Johnson Road in Montgomery County,” said Richards VFD Chief Cort Norwood.

Norwood also said the department stayed busy clearing debris from roadways and protecting the community from downed powerlines.

Bedias VFD Kenneth Tamplin said his department responded to a couple of downed trees, one on Farm to Market 39 north of Texas State Highway 90 and the other on Hwy 90 south of CR 176.

Navasota Fire Departments responded to calls of downed powerlines, sparking transformers, downed trees on powerlines and a downed tree on Spur 515. Chief Jason Katkoski said he didn’t receive any reports of high water, injuries or damaged homes.

Some areas weren’t affected by the storms. “We were fortunate on our end,” said Cassandra Malone Todd Mission VFD Chief. “Most of the calls were north of us. We had eight personnel manning the station in the event assistance was need. Though we were prepared we were not called out.

Carl Norwood reported more than 18 downed trees on his 20-acre property and had damage to one of his buildings on his property. He said there was a cargo trailer that had a downed tree on it and various other damage surrounding him.

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said, “The calls for service increased some throughout the county but nothing was major.” He also added that despite not being able to control Mother Nature, the priority is to always protect the community.

Several took to social media to post storm damage including a trampoline that was demolished damaging a travel trailer as it flew through the property.

Ricky Moreland said he had a limb that damaged his truck breaking the windshield.

Several businesses were unable to conduct business due to the outages including County offices, stores and McDonalds in Navasota.

The cleanup is continuing throughout Grimes County and despite damages, most can agree it could have been a lot more severe.