Former Hawaii residents in Texas detail frightening night of tornadoes

Updated: Oct. 21, 2019 at 9:37 PM HST
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HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) -A former Hawaii family who narrowly escaped last year’s deadly California wildfires survived yet another natural distaster. This time, in the Lone Star State.

They now live in Dallas, Texas where tornadoes caused widespread damage overnight.

“Our house got some damage on the outside. Our screens and some of our windows got damaged,” former Hawaii resident Chauntel Busche said.

At least three tornadoes touched down in Dallas, including a powerful EF-3 with winds of 140 miles per hour.

Busche moved to Dallas in February, just months after the “Camp Fire” destroyed the community of Paradise, Calif.

“It’s been challenging in general - just, you know, coming from one trauma to the next,” Busche said.

For three hours Sunday night, she and her family hid in a closet to wait out the powerful storm.

“We were close enough to hear the sirens and get the alerts and what not. We had kind of a sleepless night last night, so it’s been something. It definitely was a trigger," she said.

The tornadoes also knocked out power for tens of thousands of people, including former Hawaii Resident Sydney Wilcox.

He saw a twister first-hand.

“High winds were ripping up all the doors and windows so it was super loud,” Wilcox said. “The fact power is out now and it likely it might be out several days is one of worst effects for people who weren’t directly hit by it.”

The storms are blamed for at least four deaths.

After Dallas, the severe weather moved northeast into Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

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