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Canyon Lake woman wakes on her birthday to uprooted trees after tornado
Late Thursday night, April 20, Ginger Dukes was sitting with her husband on one of their properties, located roughly 3 miles from Startzville, northwest of New Braunfels, listening to the chaos going on just outside the door. At around 10:45 p.m., the couple heard a loud noise. It was too dark to see anything but they could just make out the hail and brush hitting the house — they knew this was more than just a storm, Dukes said.
“It was so loud it was overwhelming,” Dukes told MySA.
Dukes emerged from the home on FM 2722 the next morning — a day that just so happened to be her birthday — to check the damage. When she checked the back of the property everything seemed to be ok, but the front of the home was a different story. Dukes noticed several uprooted oak trees and limbs scattered about at the front of the house.
Uprooted trees following a Startzville-Canyon Lake tornado, which occurred Thursday, April 20.
Courtesy of Ginger Dukes
“It was quite shocking and sad [to see], and it’s my birthday,” she said. “[I’m] thankful no one was hurt or structures damaged.”
In addition to the damage on the property, the home she and her husband share on Canyon Lake had water damage as a result of the storm.
The National Weather Service confirmed on Friday, April 21, that a tornado did hit the Startzville-Canyon Lake area around 10:45 p.m. on Thursday. The tornado reached peak winds of 85 miles per hour and spanned a path of 3 miles traveling from Startzville toward FM 2722, which is where Dukes was.
The damage was ultimately minimal as the NWS noted there were only a few downed trees and minimal structure damage. The NWS reported there were also some wind damage around Canyon Lake.
Uprooted trees following a Startzville-Canyon Lake tornado, which occurred Thursday, April 20.
Courtesy of Ginger Dukes
Uprooted trees following a Startzville-Canyon Lake tornado, which occurred Thursday, April 20.
Courtesy of Ginger Dukes