After severe weather hit Turkey, Texas Sunday night, the community and neighboring towns worked tirelessly Monday to clean up.
The National Weather Service confirmed winds above one hundred miles per hour hit the town. At least fifteen buildings were severely damaged by the storm.
Even though the damaged resembled the kind that a tornado would leave behind, NWS said it was actually a wet microburst that hit, causing the bad storm.
Most people, including Edward Zamora, were just happy no one in town was injured.
“We’re all here and we’re all safe. I guess that’s what counts…[that’s] what’s the biggest deal,” Zamora said.
Zamora said the winds were very strong. So strong, it made him think about his life. He said he wasn’t nervous until he saw his SUV start to rock back and forth. Then, bad news came calling.
“I saw all the debris passing in front of me,” Zamora said, “I get here in town, and my mom calls and tells me that her roof had collapsed.”
Zamora jumped into action.
“I come and check her out, and she couldn’t get out of the house.”
After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
“…And then we just sat there in the suburban, until it kinda played out,” Zamora said.
The next morning, everyone in town was left to deal with the aftermath. Almost no one was left untouched.
“Residents and first responders are out clearing streets and taking care of the damage,” Hall County Chief Deputy Jared Johnson said, “A lot of help has come from outside of the community.”
Zamora said he “found out who his friends were,” as people came from all over to help.
“If it wasn’t for family and friends, and everybody else that’s come out here, we probably wouldn’t have accomplished what we have now,” Zamora said. “We’ve still got a lot of clean-up to do, but it was mainly their help that made this happen.”
