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Paris has near miss with strong storm
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published April 10, 2008
Waves of high winds and heavy rain swept across Northeast Texas Wednesday night and early today, dropping up to two inches additional rain to the already saturated ground.
Dime-size hail also fell during the thunderstorms but little damage was reported from the hail.
Winds were blamed for most of the damage that included trees blown over, fallen tree limbs and a few motorists stranded by high water.
“The storm cell blew through Paris between 5:15 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. today,” said Paris Assistant Police Chief Bob Hundley. “We were anticipating winds up to 70 miles per hour, but they came in more like 35 miles per hour.”
Hundley said a huge cedar tree on the Paris Junior College Campus received a direct lightning strike and was split down the middle. Crews were out working to cut it down early today. A large limb from an oak tree on the police station grounds was broken off as well.
Paris received just over three-quarters of an inch in the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. today. That brings Paris to more than 22 inches for the year.
West of Paris, in the Roxton area, more than an inch of rain fell, but the rain stood in deep puddles because the saturated ground could not absorb the extra moisture.
Rains caused problems for motorists on U.S. 82 west of Paris and on State Hwys 19/24 south of the city. Traffic was slowed because of heavy rainfall.
A Petty resident reported what he termed “an unusual wind” that moved a 12 by 20 foot structure about 10 feet away from his mobile home but did not disturb its contents.
“I had some plants sitting on a piece of plywood on a couple of saw horses,” David Hilbun said. “Not a one of them fell.”
Hilbun said he and his wife were asleep “when the mobile home began shaking hard.”
The former Louisiana resident, who has been in the Paris area for four years, said he is accustomed to hurricanes but “this place is windy.”
“Whatever came through here this morning was more than a normal wind,” Hilbun said.
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