Tornado impacts Texas bottling plant for second time in less than a decade
HAWKINS, Texas - For the second time in less than a decade, a tornado has reportedly caused significant damage to a bottling plant in East Texas.
The National Weather Service office in Shreveport, Louisiana, said it received photos from a spotter of damage at the plant in Hawkins that coincided with a radar-indicated tornado.
The tornado was part of a series of supercells tracked by National Weather Service meteorologists across East Texas, following nearly the same path as the twister that struck the plant in 2016.
Similar to the April 29, 2016, event, the severe weather struck during daylight hours when potentially hundreds of workers were inside the more than 400,000-square-foot facility.
Fortunately, during the previous event, there were no reported significant injuries as staff appeared to be well versed in what to do during severe weather events.
FOX Weather reached out to the operator of the plant to determine the extent of the damage to the facility but has not heard back.
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The Haskell Company, an engineering and construction firm that was tasked with rebuilding the facility after the 2016 tornado, called the destruction from the previous storm "devastating."
Following the 2016 disaster, the company said it was able to restore occupancy for Nestlé in just under five months while also improving the plant's energy efficiency and environmental design.
The bottling plant is a significant employer in Wood County, producing products for major retailers throughout the Lone Star State and beyond.
The Shreveport NWS office will assess the strength of the most recent tornado based on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Doppler radar during the most recent severe weather outbreak showed significant debris being lofted in the air, which is often an indication of a more powerful vortex.
At the time, radar data indicated that the supercell exhibited one of the strongest signs of rotation during Friday's severe weather outbreak.
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In addition to the damage at the plant, several homes in the area, particularly around the town of Gilmer, Texas, were also reported to have suffered significant damage.
Gilmer is also considered to be a rural community and is located north of Interstate 20, about 20 miles outside of Tyler, Texas.
The tornado that tore through Hawkins and Gilmer was one of several that were reported in the eastern half of the Lone Star State on Friday, during a particularly volatile week for extreme weather.
Severe storms were expected to continue across the heartland, including heavy rain and damaging winds, as part of a broader weather pattern that had already caused significant flooding across the Mississippi River Valley and into parts of the southern Ohio Valley.Original article source: Tornado impacts Texas bottling plant for second time in less than a decade
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