Westminster, TX Damage Photos

[Mike Mezeul II]

Hey everyone,
I've been up to Westminster 3 times the past few days helping out the locals with anything I can. I tell you, it's amazing the power this tornado had, and I highly agree with the high F3 rating. Here are some pictures of the damage I took while I was up there, I'll have more pics within the next day or so on my website.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606069.jpg
Axel to a trailer launched ~ 1600 feet from its location before the tornado.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606072.jpg
Other axel was found ~100 feet away from the other axel entangled in trees.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606067.jpg
Home and car completely destroyed.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606068.jpg
Foundation leftover from where a home once stood.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606023.jpg
Street sign bent all the way to the ground, truck that was tossed ~1000 ft from is previous location.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606022.jpg
Stuffed rabbit stuck in a tree along with power lines.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606020.jpg
Tree bark stripped off tree.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606018.jpg
1/2" diameter tree branch impaled into passenger seat.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606017.jpg
Destroyed truck.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b275/mmezeul/42606015.jpg
Bed mattress wrapped around 1/2 of a destroyed power pole.

[Alex Lamers]

...I highly agree with the high F3 rating. Here are some pictures of the damage I took while I was up there.
[/b]

Hey Mike, nice pictures. Looks real bad from the ground perspective, all I had was areal shots earlier. Was wondering though why you highly agree with the high F3 rating. Since you were there, perhaps you can shed some light on the little debate we were having earlier.

Thanks!

[Dick McGowan]

Thanks for sharing your pictures Mike, glad to see you are assisting also.......

Alex, in my personal opinion, the subject of if it was a solid F-3, high-end or low-end F4 is irrelavant (At this time). Bottom line is, that lives were lost, disrupted, and/or property was destroyed. I'll take the qualified, trained professionals word, (with many years of work in the field, and witnessing damage first hand) who participated in this tragic event, and let the victims mourn over their losses. It makes absolutely no difference to the victims what the rating is. Hats off to all the chasers who helped report what they saw.

[Alex Lamers]

Thanks for sharing your pictures Mike, glad to see you are assisting also.......

Alex, in my personal opinion, the subject of if it was a solid F-3, high-end or low-end F4 is irrelavant (At this time). Bottom line is, that lives were lost, disrupted, and/or property was destroyed. I'll take the qualified, trained professionals word, (with many years of work in the field, and witnessing damage first hand) who participated in this tragic event, and let the victims mourn over their losses. It makes absolutely no difference to the victims what the rating is. Hats off to all the chasers who helped report what they saw.
[/b]

Just asking a question...I'm not going to dispute anything, I just wanted to hear a more detailed account from someone who was actually there. If thats a crime, lock me up :)

[rdale]

"Alex, in my personal opinion, the subject of if it was a solid F-3, high-end or low-end F4 is irrelavant (At this time)."

What did you see that kept you "personally" from saying it was F4 damage?

[Shane Adams]

What did you see that kept you "personally" from saying it was F4 damage?
[/b]

If you hit the "quote" button to reply, the code neccessary to correctly post other members' snippets (for use in replies) appears before and after that person's message. All you have to do is delete the parts of the post you don't want and simply leave the line you wish to respond to. It's time you learned B)

All I did for this post was hit "quote" on your post, then delete the parts of the post I didn't want to use for this reply...the code was already there. Quite simple.

[rdale]

Much quicker to ctrl-c/ctrl-v the line in question instead of deleting paragraphs of text I don't need. Thanks though.

[joel ewing]

Thanks for sharing your pictures Mike, glad to see you are assisting also.......

Alex, in my personal opinion, the subject of if it was a solid F-3, high-end or low-end F4 is irrelavant (At this time). Bottom line is, that lives were lost, disrupted, and/or property was destroyed. I'll take the qualified, trained professionals word, (with many years of work in the field, and witnessing damage first hand) who participated in this tragic event, and let the victims mourn over their losses. It makes absolutely no difference to the victims what the rating is. Hats off to all the chasers who helped report what they saw.
[/b]


I know where you're coming from Mr. McGowan, and you've raised a valid point. I can also see the perspective of many who are interested in exactly how powerful this tornado was...given the type of setup the day offered.

[David Draun]

Those damage pics are impressive, and they aren't too far away from some of my uncle's 1990 Plainfield damage pics IMO. This was a very powerful tornado!