WEST NUECES COUNTY, Texas — According to the National Weather service, the Petronila community saw winds as strong as 115 miles per hour on May 8, 2025. Now residents are dealing with the aftermath of the straight-line winds.
"It's gonna take us a real long time to get back on our feet,” Michelle Cavazos, Petronila resident, said.
Cavazos, like many other Petronila residents, have focused on cleaning up after a storm hit their neighborhood Thursday.
“Just waking up and I'm kind of just moving on adrenaline right now because I kind of don't know what to do, so I get up in the morning and I just start cleaning and trying to figure out what to do next,” Cavazos said.
Cavazos tells KRIS 6 News, the few days since the storm, things haven't been easy.
The biggest concern for her, she said, is getting help from community leaders.
“Nueces County has a threshold of the [$]1.6 million plus give or take a little bit that we have to meet in order to declare a disaster,” Connie Scott, Nueces County Judge, said.
Nueces County Judge Connie Scott said, as of Monday, Nueces County can't declare a disaster emergency.
She told KRIS 6 News, other counties like Jim Wells were able due to them having a smaller threshold.
“The state also has to meet even a much higher threshold in order for it to be declared a disaster area and for state or federal funds to become available for those people,” Judge Scott said. “And right now it's not looking like we're gonna meet that threshold.”
Another major concern residents mentioned to Neighborhood News Reporter, Stephanie Molina, is that they have not seen anyone in the community helping them.
“So, if someone didn't see them [county officials], if they're still in their house and maybe they potentially missed them or something, but we've had crews and I know they're still out there,” Judge Scott said. “I know our commissioners that cover those areas have been very involved and been out in their own areas as well.”
Judge Scott said the county is trying to work with anybody and everybody that they can to get possible help or link the community with people that can provide assistance.
Many other residents were also experiencing power outages throughout the weekend.
Nueces Electrical Cooperative gave the following statement to KRIS 6 News:
“The Petronila and Bishop areas experienced significant storm damage earlier this week, including over 200 damaged or broken poles. This level of destruction—especially from a storm that came with little warning—has made restoration efforts more complex and time-consuming.
"In my 35 years working in this industry, I've never seen damage quite like this from an unnamed storm."— Manuel Mayorga, Line Superintendent
Restoration follows a strategic process. We begin with the largest, most heavily impacted clusters to restore power to the most people as quickly as possible. As those areas are brought back online, we shift to the smaller, more isolated outages—like the ones we’re tackling now in Petronila, Bishop, and other affected areas.
Our crews are still actively working in the area, alongside contracted teams, to safely rebuild and restore power. We understand how difficult this is, especially with today’s high temperatures, and we want our members to know we’re doing everything we can to get everyone back online.
We anticipate that full restoration in these hardest-hit pockets may continue through the next 24 to 48 hours, depending on conditions in the field. Safety remains our top priority as we complete these final, most challenging repairs.
Members who are still experiencing outages or have specific concerns are encouraged to call us at 1-800-632-9288 so we can ensure their issue is being addressed.”
For residents needing further assistance, Judge Scott advises them to call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767)
“I feel lost is really what I feel, and so I'm sad about all the damage in my house because I don't wanna focus on that right now,” Cavazos said. “I was trying to get back to school.”
Cavazos said she is grateful for many in her community and found lots of useful information in the Facebook group called 'Petronila Community News’.
