HOUSTON — More than 100 homes were damaged Monday afternoon after a tornado ripped through Harris County, Texas, Constable Mark Herman said in a Facebook post.

No serious injuries or deaths have been reported after the storm, said Brian Murray, spokesperson for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Earlier, authorities were combing through the debris searching for residents who may have been trapped or injured after the storm passed.

The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado struck the county, but has yet to rate the storm’s intensity.

Severe storms developed in the Houston area on Monday afternoon, where warm temperatures were in place ahead of a cold front. An unstable atmosphere combined with wind shear produced supercell thunderstorms, which resulted in several tornado reports.

The constable called the storm a “severe weather event” that caused “widespread and significant damage.”

The Harris County Emergency Services campus was also in the path of the tornado, and it ripped the roof and back wall off a maintenance building, spokesperson Miranda Sevcik told reporters at the scene.

Two men were working in the building at the time and one held on to a rack, while the other ducked under a table as the tornado touched down, Sevcik said.

“You can imagine how terrified they were, but they were just fine at the end of it,” she said.

No one on the campus was injured, she added.

Large tree trunks on the campus “snapped like toothpicks” during the twister, Sevcik said.

She was in another building when the tornado tore through and was told to go to the designated area for severe weather.

“What sounded like hail turned out to just be the shutters dropping, and then all of a sudden, you could feel the pressure drop, and then it just got really, really quiet,” Sevcik described. “It went by very, very fast. And then we opened the doors, thankfully …and we saw the damage. We’re like, ‘oh, my gosh,’ just like matchsticks.”

Drone video of the destruction revealed the extent of the damage, which included torn-off rooftops and debris strewn across yards and pools.

Photos posted by the Cy-Fair Fire Department also showed shattered windows, broken fences, damaged roofs, and debris scattered through the area.

Residents are urged to avoid traveling if possible, as there is widespread debris and downed power lines in the impacted neighborhoods, Harris County officials said in another post.

“Our priority is the safety of our residents,” Herman said a post. “We are using every resource available to locate the injured, secure the area, and support our community through this emergency.”

Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch until 1 a.m. CT for much of eastern Texas, including Houston. The watch also extends into portions of western and central Louisiana. — CNN