MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – Severe storms rocked Southeast Texas early Monday morning and many areas in and around Houston were heavily hit.
A strong line of storms barreled through Montgomery County early Monday morning, taking down trees and power lines in the Conroe area.
In Panorama Village, crews hit the streets Monday morning to clean up.
Jeff McDonald with the North Montgomery County Fire Deparment told KPRC 2 News there was "pretty good amount of damage. More than normal."
Residents in Panorama Village said the storm began at about 4 a.m. on Monday.
"You can see the chimney destroyed right there. That's my bedroom," said resident Lecia Trevino.
Several large trees crashed onto the Trevino's split level home. One destroyed a chimney, cracking the roof.
"Daughter came in and said 'Did you hear that awful noise?' And then we started to hear the trees fall on the roof," said Trevino.
Downed trees crisscrossed streets. Roads were blocked off Monday as crews tended to downed lines and branches blanketing the area.
"My umbrella," said Debbie Biggs, holding what's left of an umbrella that was once part of her yard furniture. High winds picked it up and hurled it at least a football field away.
"I live over there, it was way back there over their shed," she said.
"It was pretty wild," said Duane Peterson.
For residents, cleanup begins. No doubt they say things were bad Monday, but as Leica Trevino knows, they could have been much worse.
"We're blessed. Everybody is fine," she said with a smile.
No injuries have been reported in Panorama Village but more than 8,000 homes are without power.
Residents told KPRC 2 News the utility companies said they would try to get power back up and running by Wednesday at noon.
Meanwhile, the storm damaged property in Huntsville, as well.
Chapelwood Baptist Church was hit with a massive tree that was nearly uprooted completely.
At one point, Reverend Danny Swyden said part of the tree sat across the driveway, blocking it off.
"You're not used to seeing trees on your church. Around your church, yes. But not on your church," said Swyden. "We've had little debris, branches here and there but never trees twisted out of the ground and laying across the top of the church."
Chapelwood Baptist Church, which Swyden said is nearly 50 years old, has never been seriously damaged.
The tree that came down on the church on Monday didn't even touch its stained glass windows.
"The tree is laying against the glass but no broken glass. We're very blessed that there's very little damage that we do have."
Reverend Swyden will continue to hold services at the church since there isn't serious damage to the building.
There was also lots of damage at a mobile home park in Shiro, just of of 30 in Grimes County.
People were dealing with dozens of downed trees and power lines and extensive damage to their homes after a possible tornado ripped through the area. At the Shiro Cemetery, several tombstones, some dating back to 1920, were crushed when trees were uprooted. Nearby at the Presbyterian Church, the steeple blew off the roof.
"I've seen wind do damage, but this wasn't no wind it sounded like a train. You could see what it did!" said neighbor Robbie Carrell.
"I got up to see what my wife was doing and there was something blocking the hallway off," said neighbor Alex Messina.
That something was a massive tree that ripped through the roof of his home, barely missing his family inside.
"Luckily everybody is OK," Messina said. "My poor wife, she's amazing. She climbed through the debris to get to the back of the house to make sure her daughter and I were safe."
"It was getting closer and closer. I could feel the house shake," said neighbor Steph Parker.
Shiro fire officials say there are hundreds without power and will be for days.
The National Weather Service spent hours in Shiro, snapping pictures and surveying the damage.
"We've looked around and there are a lot of trees down, mostly pointing towards the east and over a fairly large area so our initial thinking is a down burst: very strong straight line winds as strong as a tornado but more or less from West to East," said NWS meteorologist Dan Reilly.
Crews are working throughout the area on downed power lines and the cleanup is extensive. No injuries have been reported.
Conroe