China Spring businesses push through, open doors despite hailstorm damage

CHINA SPRING, Texas (KWTX) - 24 hours after Wednesday’s storms first rolled in, businesses and homeowners in McLennan County community are still assessing the damage left behind by the baseball-sized hail.

An entire China Spring strip mall center consisting of five businesses suffered extensive hail damage. One of those five businesses no longer has an exterior sign, all thanks to the hail.

“I was shocked,” said Cougar Donut Owner Sophal Phann. “I’ve never seen that kind of thing happen and I’ve been here for 20 years. Never seen that kind of thing happen.”

Phann’s lived in Texas for two decades, but says this is the worst hailstorm he’s experienced.

Despite not having a sign, Phann opened Cougar Donut for the morning rush and it paid off. “Actually, we had more clientele than normal,” said Phann. “Maybe the storm made them hungrier.”

Just a few doors down, Pharmacy Plus is dealing with a leaky roof on top of the storm flooding its floors.

“We have a lot of air-moving equipment in there to pull the humidity out and dry the floors out,” said pharmacist Dwayne Howard. “Other than that, we’re business as normal.”

For those at home, roof and window repair are what most are dealing with. The Parrish Family credits their backyard trees for saving their windows.

“I think we were extremely lucky having the trees placed where they are so this window and this window only had messed up screens,” said Kathy Parrish as she assessed the damage.

Proving their theory true, the only window that was broken didn’t have a tree shading it.

Now, the first round may be gone but residents are preparing for round two, set to hit on Friday.

“Hopefully everything stays clear of Central Texas as far as the hail and tornadic activity,” said Howard.

The shopping center houses: Cougar Donut, Shipsters, Black Daisy Boutique, Mystique Salon and Pharmacy Plus.

If and when that storm makes its way to the China Spring area, our KWTX weather team will be there to provide you with the most up-to-date information, keeping you and your family safe.

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