East Texas

By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer

Lightning struck a two-story home inside a gated community east of Tyler, causing a two-alarm fire as storms moved through the area Tuesday afternoon.

Tyler Fire Department Capt. Jeff Akin said firefighters responded to a fire in the 3500 block of Melanie Court inside the River Oaks community near the University of Texas at Tyler campus around 3:30 p.m. after a two-story home was struck by lightning.

Akin said firefighters took control of the blaze within 45 minutes and that most of the damage was to the attic and second floor area. He said the roof collapsed completely, and that the home sustained water and smoke damage throughout. The owners were not at home when the fire began.

Akin said emergency services were busy throughout most of the afternoon, as a storm front that produced winds that brought down trees, limbs and power lines across the city. National Weather Service spokesperson Brandi Richardson said the highest recorded winds were 39 miles per hour at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, but she suspects winds reached speeds above those readings.

“Hurricane type” winds caused a portion of a roof over The Ink Well in the Commerce Square on Loop 323 to crash down on several cars.

Rod Cramer, owner of the print shop, said he and an employee heard rumbling sounds and looked to see the roof come loose.

“He (the employee) ran out and moved my truck just before the roof came down,” he said. “The rain was going across the cars in the parking lot like in a hurricane,” he said.

Police blocked off several city streets at the height of the storm due to high water and trees that had fallen into power lines. Ms. Richardson said Smith County Sheriff’s office reported downed trees “all over the city.” Encor Region Customer Operations Manager Charles Hill said 14,000 customers lost power during the storm and that 11,000 remained without power at 5:30 p.m. He said power and tree trimming crews have been called in as far as Waco to work through the night in an attempt to restore power as soon as possible.

“(The storm) was short in duration but very powerful,” he said. “There was a lot of tree damage and several broken poles.”

Hill said people should stay away from downed power lines.

Ms. Richardson said “penny” size hail accompanied the high winds throughout the city. One inch of rainfall was recorded in the downtown area, said Tyler weather observer Dr. Bob Peters.

Akin said though emergency services responded to numerous calls, aside from the fire, most of incidents were minor or nothing at all. He said several calls reporting fires were just steam rising from hot roofs after the rain.

Updated Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 5:50 p.m. CDT

Police kept the media away from the scene of a house fire in a gated community east of Tyler today.
(Spotted photo by Erin King)