Storms pound area with wind, rain
San Jacinto News- Times - August 2008

COLDSPRING – From wind and rain storms to a tropical storm, San Jacinto County residents have experienced it all within a span of two days this week, suffering power outages, downed trees, damaged homes, broken tree limbs and yards full of debris to clean as the clouds clear. While Sam Houston Electric Cooperative (SHECO) was continuing to repair damage caused by Sunday’s unexpected wind and rain storms, Tropical Storm Edouard brought another round of bad weather to the area. Sunday’s intense thunderstorms resulted in downed trees and broken limbs and caused more than 17,000 meter outages in SHECO’s service territory. Although Tropical Storm Edouard, which came ashore Tuesday, did not cause as much damage as seen during Sunday’s wind and rain storm in San Jacinto County, it resulted in 8,000 additional meter outages, according SHECO’s Communications Specialist Mary Scott. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, close to 1,000 meters were still without power as SHECO crews were continuing to restore service to the remaining scattered cases.

SHECO crews, along with crews from Louisiana and Texas, worked through the night Sunday and well into Monday to restore service to its members. Sunday’s crews were retained in SHECO’s service territory until damages from Edouard were repaired, according to Scott. San Jacinto County Emergency Management Coordinator Shirley Brandon spent Monday preparing for what could have turned into a Category 1 Hurricane and getting area shelters ready to open Tuesday if needed. Instead of blowing in early Tuesday morning as a hurricane, Tropical Storm Edouard made it inland with very minor damage reported along its path.