A building on U.S. Highway 190 East that for years housed Yeske construction was devastated over the weekend when a tornado reportedly roared through the area. Seven nearby storage units owned by Richard and Cathy Faw also sustained damage, and other weather-related problems were reported throughout the city. PHOTO BY JIM LOWE Cathy Faw has no question about the turbulent weather that hit Lampasas Saturday morning.

“That was not high winds,” she said. “It was a tornado. I heard it.”

Mrs. Faw said she heard a loud noise about 5:30 a.m., and it lasted about two minutes. “It was that quick.”

Describing the sound, Mrs. Faw commented: “It sounded like a train roaring toward you. The momentum kept building.” Moments later, Mrs. Faw said, she heard a nearby building explode.

For years, the structure housed the Yeske construction business. It is located across a field and west of the double-wide mobile home where Mrs. Faw and her husband, Richard, live.

The Faws own 134 storage units on U.S. Highway 190, just a short distance east of Brown’s Store. Seven of the storage units were damaged by 2-inch x 6-inch timbers and other debris from the Yeske building.

Mrs. Faw said the building’s roof flew past her residence -- “pole vaulting” it, she said -- and skipped over one dog kennel behind the mobile home. A second kennel was crushed by the tornadic winds, however, she said.

Damage was readily apparent elsewhere. “It drove some timbers into our home,” Mrs. Faw said. A satellite dish on top of her residence was destroyed. In addition, she said, “There were timbers sticking up in the ground around the house and in the field.”

By 5:45 a.m. Saturday, the Faws were outside in the rain, trying to board up a window that a timber had crushed.

“We haven’t found the double metal lattice from the window,” she said. “The tornado took it somewhere.”

She expressed gratitude for good neighbors, as well as devoted family members, who spent hours with the couple in cleanup efforts.

Members of the Yeske family helped the Faws remove debris from the storage units and from around Mrs. Faw’s residence and that of her sister, who lives nearby.

The Faws, their two sons and their wives worked for 13 hours cleaning up insulation board, nails, screws and boards from the area.

A fireworks stand in a trailer park close by was obliterated by the tornado, Mrs. Faw added.

She was quick to point out that the destruction could have been much worse than it was.

There are elm trees 50 to 60 feet tall near the Faws’ home. Vicious winds broke one of the trees in half, and it fell on Mr. Faw’s Ford Crown Victoria. The only damage inflicted was a couple of small dents -- even though the tree came to rest on the hood and windshield of the vehicle.

Elsewhere, officials said, the roof was blown off a portable building at Lampasas Middle School. The damaged structure is located behind the baseball field on West Sixth Street.

A 60-foot-tall oak tree, which was uprooted, crashed into the Greg Westerfield residence at 1217 W. Fourth St.

In addition, a number of businesses and homes lost power for a time, and traffic lights on Key Avenue and along U.S. Highway 190 were out.