SUNDAY NIGHT'S THUNDERSTORM was reminiscent of last summer's Hurricane Dolly. Willacy County residents endured strong winds, rain, hail and power outages as result. Shown above: A trailer was turned over onto its side on Lopez County Road. Shown below: Part of a roof was blown off by the gusty winds. I was out of town this weekend and apparently I missed quite a storm on Sunday night.

A McAllen resident who got a phone call about the storm walked out into his yard and looked to the northeast.

"The storm was anvil shaped," he said and extended several thousand feet into the air."

"I counted 10 or 12 lighting strikes per minute and it lasted quite a while."

The United States Weather Service in Brownsville also observed the storm.

Meterologist Mike Castillo said the storm had its beginning south of Corpus Christi, moved into the Laguna Madre and then the Gulf of Mexico in the middle of the afternoon. After dark the storm rebuilt and moved into Kenedy County, before turning directly south into Willacy County.

Raymondville weather observer Dicky Caldwell reported 2.73 inches of rainfall but other city residents said more than 4 inches filled their rain guages.

According to Raymondville EMS director Frank Torres high winds rolled an 800-1,000 lb. roof airconditioner over and over at the Retama Manor wrecking it and leaving 10 holes in the roof. The storm uprooted a large tree at Little League Park. City manager Eleazar "Yogi" Garcia said, "we used to play under that tree when we were kids."

An AEP light pole at the corner of N. 4th and Main St. collapsed westward into the street at the Chronicle/News office.

Electricity was out for three hours in downtown area and most stores on Hidalgo Ave. beteen 4th and 10th Streets were flooded, including some on South 7th St., like Watson Drug Store.

The Weather Service said the storm was 14 miles wide and confined to the north and west portions of the county with Raymondville about the center. Little rain was noted in Lyford, Sebastian, Santa Monica, or San Perlita.

Hail, the size of a penny, accompanied the storm and did some damage west of town, where high winds turned over a trailer onto its side.

City commissioner Clifton Smith said, "the water went into every store downtown. It did more damage to my home and to my business than the Hurricane did.

Commissioner Yolanda Alexandre said. "It was pitch dark downtown. People were out cruising in their cars up and down the signal lights were out, it was very scary."

Public Works Director Joel Soto said the water drained from the streets within an hour after the rainfall ended. A porch was blown off a house on 11th St., he said.

A concern for the city will be weedy lots that will spring up from the rain, and extra charges from the company that collects brush.

"They bill us for months when there is more than average debris," he said.

The rains effects on agriculture may not be fully understood for a few more days. Grain fields in many cases are ready for harvest and little cotton was planted this year because of the drought, which still exists but may be tempered for a few weeks.