PLANO, Texas — Near hurricane-force winds punched a hole into the roof of the sanctuary at Prestonwood Baptist Church -- among the widespread damage across Plano and North Texas from Tuesday morning's storm.
"It's an amazing thing," said Senior Pastor Jack Graham. "It just blew off, combusted."
The winds scattered insulation and shoved sunshine into the 7,000-seat worship center. Graham said it caused some damage inside -- and repair work could take time.
"We're very hopeful and praying that we don't have more rain or storms until we can get that covered," he said.
The storm rolled through Plano with a fury early Tuesday, shredding stop signs from their poles and tearing up trees.
"It was like a transformer going off," said Brian Spencer of the storm that tore a limb from a tree outside his home. "I think it hit the house and bounced off and it made a huge sound," he said.
But he didn't have much damage -- and miraculously neither did his neighbor across the street whose tree fell across their front yard.
"Honestly at first I was just praying," said Lauren Fabian. "I was praying that it wouldn't hit the house."
Her 3-year-old daughter Amelia has started to pick up sticks in the front yard -- but the real professionals will take time to arrive.
"All the people who are cleaning up the trees, they have a long waiting list at this point. We just hope we can get someone out here quickly," Fabian said.
Back at Prestonwood Baptist, Graham said volunteers helped clear nearly 30 downed trees out of the parking lot and off the grounds. "Six or seven hours of hard labor and work and prayer and sweat," he said.
He said the church plans to be open for worship on Sunday.