Houston hair salon destroyed by storm

HOUSTON — Houston barber Julian Diaz, or JD as he is known, was on the verge of losing everything when last week’s deadly storms ravaged the city.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” he said. “These walls were shaking and we thought this roof was going to come off.”

Some of his clients include Texas players past and present, including quarterback CJ Stroud.

After the derecho hit, much of his Spring Branch store, Empire Barber Studio, was destroyed. He was left without power, but he still counted his blessings.

“Just the fact that we’re alive, I think, is great. Just that everyone is making it through this,” Diaz said.

The weather turned an ordinary day into a potentially deadly event.

“We just thought this thing was… the top was going to come off and debris would be flying everywhere,” he said.

JD was inside the hair salon when the high winds struck, toppling an awning outside his store which fell onto a car that had stopped to escape the blinding rain.

“This whole thing just came crashing down,” he said. “Luckily this guy is alive.”

JD said good Samaritans and emergency responders arrived shortly after the debris settled on the ground.

In the process, his customers mobilized to support him. JD thinks it will take him months to get back on his feet, but after cutting his hair for several days in the parking lot, he has the power back. He said cutting hair in hot weather was nothing new to him.

“It reminds me of when I was cutting hair in the garage and, you know, it was hot,” he said. “It was hot in the garage at the time. It was nothing to me.”

He wants everyone to know that he is still standing and will rebuild.