Rare tornado destroys northeast Austin industrial building

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It definitely was a tornado that destroyed a northeast Austin building early Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

The severe weather caused a building to collapse at 5106 Commercial Park Drive, between Springdale and Manor roads.

YNN’s Chief Meteorologist, Burton Fitzsimmons, said that around 3 a.m. winds picked up just north of Commercial Park Drive, and by 3:10 a.m. they reached a maximum speed of 93 miles per hour.

The building sustained at least $350,000 worth of damage. The property's manager said he put the facility up for sale just two weeks ago.

Across the street, Austin Shoe Hospital Owner Carroll Kelly said he's counting his blessings.

"In one blink of an eye, you can lose your whole business," he said. "Luckily we just had a couple of AC units flipped over and we're ok, but that's a pretty bad deal right there."

Kelly and another property manager in the area are going to work together to make sure business can resume as soon as possible.

Officials say there’s twisted metal on power lines and crews are working to clean up and to get things back to normal.

“We’re trying to get people back into business. We’ve isolated the businesses that are damaged. We’re working with Texas Gas, Austin Energy, the Austin Police Department and Austin street and bridge. We want to get these roads clear. We want to get people back to work. We want to make it safe and we want to make sure everyone is safe,” Austin Fire Department Spokesperson Palmer Buck said.

For homeowners in the area, the rare January tornado came as quite a shock.

"It was so quick. It was like that sound of ‘clap’ and it was gone!" area resident Eve Mathenia said.

Mathenia said her husband discovered the full scope of Mother Nature’s damage in the daylight, when he tried to take out the garbage.

"He said, 'I can't get to my garbage can to get it out.' I said 'why?' He said, 'well there is a tree on it,” she said. “I kept thinking, ‘If it's on that area, it's on my car!"

Official damage estimates for the 290 and Springdale area total $1.65 million. Pieces of debris were scattered as far away as 200 yards.