Joshua Star (Joshua, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 23, 2013 Page: 7 of 12
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Thursday, May 23, 2013 ★ Joshua Star ★ Page 7
TORNADO: Destruction left behind in wake ofEF-3
storm of his lifetime hit
his hometown.
“I’ve never seen any-
thing that huge,” Harmon
said. “I wasn’t close enough
to hear anything, but I
could see blue flashes each
time the tornado hit power
sources.”
Harmon’s assistant, Ali-
son Hitchcock, posted pho-
tos Thursday of downed
trees in her front yard on
Facebook that wouldn’t al-
low her to exit the front of
her home. By midday Thurs-
day, Harmon and Johnson
County Sheriff Bob Alford
got an eye-opening look at
the damage from a Depart-
ment of Public Safety heli-
copter.
“You realize the devas-
tation is a whole lot greater
than what you see on the
ground,” Alford said. “They
said the tornado was a mile
wide, well it’s clear there’s a
mile-wide path of destruc-
tion.”
The first in a series of
Johnson County tornado
warnings was issued at 8
p.m. Wednesday when a
twister was spotted about 12
miles west of Godley. Then
another warning was issued
at 9:23 p.m. of a tornado
with a width of a mile head-
ed toward Cleburne. It then
continued about five miles
south of Keene and reached
Alvarado around 10 p.m. and
Grandview around 10:20
p.m.
“There’s no doubt in my
mind it went over my (ru-
ral Alvarado) home at about
10 p.m.,” Alford said. “We
would hear some really bad
noises and then silence.”
As of Thursday afternoon,
all lives had been accounted
for in Johnson County, Al-
ford said.
Harmon has signed a
declaration of disaster in
Johnson County. Cleburne
Mayor Scott Cain also de-
clared a local state of disaster
Thursday morning, reporting
“widespread damage, some
injuries and loss of property”
as a result of Wednesday’s
storms.
“There’s tremendous
tree damage, a lot of homes
damaged or destroyed and
state and local authorities
everywhere,” said Johnson
County Commissioner Rick
Bailey. “If we find no one
hurt it is really going to be
a miracle. There’s homes
completely gone. Its going
to take a long time to re-
cover.”
Bailey, a 25-year resi-
dent of Cleburne, can’t re-
member a storm ever leav-
ing behind such widespread
damage.
“Not to this extent,” he
said. “A lot residents may go
days without electricity.”
Before daybreak, Bai-
ley helped coordinate home
to home searches with the
Joshua Police Department
and the county constable’s
office. He sounded physically
exhausted as he continued
to aid residents Thursday
morning.
“I haven’t slept, I haven’t
been home other than to
shower and come back out,”
he said. “This is where I
should be.”
Bailey was still on the
streets Thursday afternoon,
not having slept since early
Wednesday morning, when
local photographer Nick
Chesney toured damaged
properties with the commis-
sioner.
“You don’t realize how
much damage is done un-
til you see it for yourself,”
Chesney said. “It’s amazing
how the tornado seemed to
hunt and peck, hitting one
house but not its neigh-
bor.”
United Cooperative Ser-
vices reported 4,000 mem-
bers experiencing power loss
during the storm. The Cle-
burne ISD cancelled all class-
es Thursday, with the extent
of damage at two campuses
not known as the sun rose on
the city Thursday. Two other
campuses had water damage.
The County Courthouse in
Cleburne experienced phone
outages, including at Har-
mon’s office.
“Trees and even some
cars were thrown into power
lines,” said UCS spokesman
Marty Haught.
The devastation uncov-
ered by UCS has included a
decision they hoped never to
have to make.
“In some coverage areas,
we haven’t restored power
because there are no homes
there to serve now,” Haught
said. “We won’t rebuild
service lines until we have
homes to serve.”
The UCS service area also
includes neighboring Gran-
bury, where lives have been
lost.
“What we have seen there
is just devastating,” Haught
said. “Our hearts and prayers
go out to all the residents
and our members affected by
this.”
The aerial tour over John-
son County showed Alford
exactly what Haught said his
workers had found, specifi-
cally in the Winchester sub-
division near Lake Pat Cle-
burne.
“Just about every home
there is wiped out,” Alford
said. “As you fly around,
there’s no question it was a
tornado.”
Cleburne took a brunt of
the damage from the storm,
according to Alford, but
damage to other areas in the
county could be seen from
the air.
“We have some scattered
damage. That’s typical with a
tornado,” Alford said. “There
is a concentration of damage
in Cleburne.”
County Commissioner
Kenny Howell, whose pre-
cinct includes Burleson,
Godley, Joshua and other
northeastern areas, direct-
ed about half of his main-
tenance crew Thursday to
areas of Precinct 4, where
he reported widespread
downed trees and other
storm related damage. He
later offered to send a crew
to Cleburne.
There have been no re-
ports of fatalities or serious
injuries or significant dam-
age in Burleson or other
areas of northern Johnson
County.
Johnson County Com-
missioner Jerry Stringer,
who was in the county’s
emergency operations cen-
ter until about 2 a.m. Thurs-
day, reported little to no
damage in Precinct 3, an
area including a portion of
Burleson, Alvarado and oth-
er northeastern areas of the
county.
“As the storm crossed the
county line, it moved south-
east toward Cleburne,” he
said. “Most of the damage
was done south of Cleburne.
The tornado started to turn
toward downtown Cleburne
and that was unnerving.”
Stringer had high praise
for emergency responders
and those in the emergency
operations center.
“I didn’t see anyone who
didn’t do a good job for us,”
he said. “It made me proud.”
COUNCIL
FROM PAGE 1
for Smith’s vacated seat unop-
posed.
On behalf of the city,
Hollarn presented Smith a
plaque for his service to the
community.
Contrary to a report in
last week’s Joshua Star,
both Hollarn and Connally
are beginning their second
terms in office and would
not be term limited. City
Council term limits are
four consecutive three-
year terms, or 12 years in
office.
The Council also pro-
claimed May as Motorcycle
Safety and Awareness Month
and designated Relay For
Life Day for June 14.
Also at Thursday’s meet-
ing, the council established
a Youth Leadership Council
for the city and also approved
Youth Leadership Council
bylaws.
Hollarn noted that it is
important for youth to have a
voice in the city and the rest
of the council agreed to the
formation of the Youth Lead-
ership Council in a unani-
mous vote.
REAL ESTATE
Home sales spike
attributed to confidence
By JULISSA TREVINO
reporter@thestargroup.com
When Cliff Cline of Cen-
tury 21 sold a home on Coun-
ty Road 528 in Burleson for
$1.1 million last month, that
meant something.
“Our office did $8 million
in sales in one month,” Cen-
tury 21 broker Brenda Staglik
said of her office’s April sales.
“That’s pretty remarkable. It
shows that sales are pretty
strong.”
Realtors around the state
might be experiencing the
same situation.
According to a recent Tex-
as Quarterly Housing Report,
53,937 single-family homes
were sold in Texas in the first
quarter of 2013 - a 17.53 per-
cent increase from the same
quarter last year.
Of the 48 markets listed
in the report, 40 saw increas-
es in sales, showing a state-
wide trend.
In Johnson County, the
number of homes that closed
was 32.6 percent higher in
April 2013 compared to April
2012, according to the North
Texas Real Estate Informa-
tion Systems.
“So far it looks like a trend
going into May,” said Staglik.
“April caught my attention
because it was a significant
increase. That doubled our
[normal] sales.”
Tracy Melton with RE/
MAX Associates of Burleson
is also seeing the trend.
“We’ve been really busy
lately,” Melton said. “It’s
been the trend this year.
We’ve had more closings ev-
ery month since January.”
Melton said her office saw
24 closings in April 2013,
compared to 13 the same
month last year.
“We’ve already closed 12
so far. That’s already half of
[our closings] last month, so
I expect this month to be bet-
ter,” she said.
Listings are also up be-
cause the market is more de-
manding. Agents at RE/MAX
in Burleson listed 13 homes
for sale in February, 19 in
March and 21 in April.
“The economy has turned
around and people are hav-
ing more confidence,” she
said.
Home prices are slightly
up. The average sale price of
a home in Johnson County
in April 2013 was $133,750
compared to $114,000 this
time last year, according to
NTREIS data.
But Melton said more tell-
ing than higher home prices
is the fact that people aren’t
negotiating to lower the price
on a home because the mar-
ket is more competitive this
year.
Homes are on the market
for significantly fewer days
now - sometimes only two or
three days before they’re sold
compared to the average of
40 days, Staglik said.
“They’re definitely going
faster,” Staglik said.
Though May and June
are typically the best months
for home sales, said Staglik,
April has been a particularly
good month for her staff.
“I think it’s attributed to
our shortage of homes. We’re
getting back up offers on
homes, which doesn’t hap-
pen very much,” she said.
Some HUD homes are
also being sold for higher
than asking price because of
a competitive market, Melton
said.
“One agent said a cli-
ent gave $10,000 more than
what was being asked on a
HUD home,” she said.
Foreclosures also seem
down, Melton said.
Besides the milion-dollar
home, Staglik’s staff also
sold a home in April for
$850,000. Combined sales
for Century 21 A-One/Home
Team for the month of April
was $8 million with 21 of
those properties in Burleson,
five in Crowley and one in
Joshua.
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Sorter, Dave. Joshua Star (Joshua, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 23, 2013, newspaper, May 23, 2013; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823129/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.