‘God really blessed us’ Lake Striker Resort owner details damage from recent storm

RUSK COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Lake Striker residents were hit hard by Sunday night’s weather. On County Road 4256, which runs along the lake there were many trees down. And area residents feel fortunate that most of the fallen trees didn’t hit buildings.

Lake Striker Resort Manager Leonard Nichol said it’s not the first time the metal roof on the resort’s boathouse was blown off.

“That pier was built back in the 1960′s, and a tornado about five years ago took it out. So, the lake board came in here and they rebuilt everything for us, so that there is about two years old now,” Nichol said.

It will have to be repaired again. An outbuilding that handled boat rentals was knocked over as well. About a mile down the road Connie White had a tree on her mobile home. She said the wind made a strange sound as the tree came down.

“I’d been through one other tornado, and they said it sounded like a train. This wasn’t exactly like a train, but it was like something was turning really fast,” White said.

Marilyn Scafidi and her husband live nearby. A tree limb fell on their roof and landed on the power line connected to their weather head.

“We’ve got some damage and we’re just trying to determine whether to file a claim or just try to do it ourselves. This is a house we bought that we’ve been fixing up. This was not an intended project though,” Scafidi said.

Down the road Keith Byrd said he had his property cleaned of fallen trees and limbs, but you can’t tell anymore.

“With all the trees downed, it missed everything but my nephew’s brand new deer stand. Flattened it out,” Byrd said.

But Nichol said they are a tight-knit community.

“One of the elderly ladies down the road lost the roof on her house and the community is helping her out. So, we try to keep an eye on everybody and take care of everybody out here as much as we can,” Nichol said.

Those living along the lake feel fortunate that the storm didn’t do more damage than it did.

Most residents in the area don’t have power. ONCOR crews are on scene working to restore it.

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