Swirling winds over the Texas Capitol

Although the Goddess of Liberty remained standing atop the Texas Capitol, more than a half dozen ancient oaks on the Capitol grounds were not so fortunate.

High winds smashed through Downtown Austin overnight, splitting trees and causing property damage -- including some damage to the regal Capitol building itself.

Julie Fields, a spokeswoman for the State Preservation Board that oversees the Capitol grounds, said windows were blown out of the top of the dome, showering glass down on the Capitol rotunda floor, several stories below. She said there were no injuries, and that the broken glass had been picked up by about 7 a.m..

Likewise, a contractor clearing up smashed trees estimated about 8 or 9 old oaks had been destroyed. Some, he said, were over 100 years old. He also said several fruit trees were uprooted.

"We have four crews and 14 people out here," said the contractor, Brent Frazier of Certified Arbor Care. "The Capitol had the most (tree) damage (among Arbor Care clients) -- this is by far the worst damage we've been called out on."

Workmen in hardhats, gimme caps and cowboy hats spent much of the morning chainsawing the remains of the proud old trees and feeding them into a humming wood chipper. Much of the work was down as clouds continued to gather behind the Goddess of Liberty, the statue atop the Capitol (seen above in a picture from the Austin-American Statesman).

According to reports, wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour from the overnight storms left 19,000 Austin residents without power.

 

-- R.A. Dyer