LONGVIEW, Texas — Straight-line winds over 60 miles per hour tore through the city of Longview Wednesday, May 8.
Despite rumors of a tornado, the National Weather Service officially confirmed Thursday a tornado did not strike the area. However, a tornado did strike in Harrison County north of Marshall.
The winds, which reached up to 90 mph, uprooted trees, damaged structures and knocked out power for more than 30,000 people in the area.
Trees still remain down along with powerlines blocking roads.
Thursday afternoon residents on Willow Oak Drive spoke about damages following the storm.
Longview resident Dianne Ransom says a large tree fell onto her patio.
However, Ramson is staying positive as she and neighbors start the cleaning up process.
"I'm feeling blessed for me, but looking at the backyard it's a mess," Ransom said. "I feel bad because I just had gotten the yard mowed Tuesday. So this is what it is, but all is well and I was fine."
Due to a large number of trees and limbs that have fallen, more than 19 thousand SWEPCO customers are without power.
The electric company says they are not expecting to restore power until Sunday, May, 12.
New Beginnings and Mobberly Baptist Churches are asking the community for help to clean up the city.
The volunteer groups have been sending crews out all day with chainsaws and other tools needed to help clean up the mess.
Wednesday afternoon Longview resident Colton Lively watched the winds blow his patio furniture.
“I was inside watching my show on TV and all of a sudden I just heard the wind pick up really bad and watch the trees start hitting my window," Lively said. "So I got out of bed. And when I did I looked out the window and all of a sudden you just watch my patio table umbrella just fly up."
When Lively went outside to check out the damage, he felt the need to jump in and help drivers avoid newly-created hazards.
"I'm directing traffic because the firemen are all caught up with the house fire that's back there," Lively said.
Over on Judson Road, the Oakland Heights Baptist Church was left to answer the question, "What do you do with a fallen steeple?"
“We had some winds that came through, knocked our steeple off and tore part of our roof structure off of our sanctuary," pastor Michael Cook said. "There's still water coming into the sanctuary at this time. So our goal will be hopefully to get a break in the weather sometime tomorrow and get some kind of temporary cover over it. And then we'll start trying to mitigate the damage.”
Church members attempted to give the roof relief by removing the steeple but their crane was not tall enough. They will have to wait and get more appropriate equipment.
"We're just thankful no one was hurt," Cook said.
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