ALICE, Texas — A family in Alice is dealing with significant property damage after strong thunderstorms caused a large tree to uproot and crash onto their home. Vicente Celaya has lived in Alice for 10 years and he said he's never seen anything like what he saw during Thursday night's thunderstorms.
"We walked outside, and it was kind of dark already, so I walked outside, and the tree was on the house, and water started leaking inside the house. It was bad," Celaya said.
No one was hurt when the tree fell, according to the family and nearby neighbors.
"And it's all the way around the house too, not just this one. There's another tree against the neighbors house in the back, and it's just bad," Celaya said.
Vicente Celaya showed Neighborhood News Reporter Erin Holly other damage around his property including fallen power lines in the backyard, leaks inside the home, and tree branches scattered across his front porch. Neighbors were also shaken up by the damage these storms caused.
"This morning I got up and I went to go get my daily necessities to do my housework, and I noticed the tree. There were a bunch of broken trees falling on the house, on the side of their porch. I was like 'woah. I didn't realize that last night until I saw it this morning,'" Araselly Villareal, a neighbor of the Celaya Family said.
Celaya says his family will be picking up the pieces for the next few weeks while also preparing for hurricane season. Despite the damage, he's thankful that his entire family remained safe during the storm.
"We're doing good. Lucky everybody was safe. I live with my daughter. She's all good. And my son, too. Luckily we are all good," Celaya said.
Neighbors and city officials in Alice say they are preparing for a long recovery from this storm.
We're doing the assessments right now. And I have filed a declaration of disaster with the governor's office. So, we're hoping that we can get all the assessments done and that the people participate. Because that's the main thing, that we participate," Pedro "Pete" Trevino Jr. , the Jim Wells County Judge said.
The Celaya family and other neighbors in Alice will be busy cutting down fallen trees and cleaning up other storm damage on their properties.
"I know we have a lot of damage and everybody wants to help pick up the damage, but the safety and security of our people is number one," County Judge Pedro "Pete" Trevino Jr. said.
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