The far northwestern corner of Smith County lies between the Van Zandt County and Wood County lines. There, the unincorporated community of Providence lies a few miles west of Mineola. The same storm that produced a tornado that destroyed much of Van on the night of May 10 also created a smaller tornado that damaged homes in Providence.
Audio transcript
Mark Haslett: The same storm system that created the EF 3 tornado that devastated the small city of Van, also did significant damage just a little way to the northeast. After leaving Van, the severe thunderstorm created an EF 1 tornado that touched down in a rural residential area a few miles west of Mineola. No injuries have been reported as a result of that tornado, but 35 homes were damaged by the storm with two houses made uninhabitable.
Eric Lowery: There’s a couple houses that a tree went through one of them, like halved it, and there’s one where the roof and two walls are off of it.
Haslett: That’s Eric Lowery, a deputy Fire Marshall from Smith County. The smaller of the two tornadoes that struck east Texas on Sunday night went through the unincorporated community of Providence. It lies in the extreme northwestern corner of Smith County. The small home owned by JoAnn Hill was among the worst hit. After a long day of work, she had gone to bed early after the power went out, which is not uncommon in the area, even during minor storms. Hill said that she might not have survived the tornado if she hadn’t been awakened by her dog.
JoAnn Hill: I had no electricity so I was like “Okay we’re going to bed, I don’t care if it’s 7:30, you know.” And I fell asleep, and all of a sudden he jumped over me and was just going crazy. I took the flashlight and looked at him, and I knew immediately something was wrong. His ears were straight back, and this is a little stray dog that somebody dumped out. Best dog you could ever have, he’s a hero.
Haslett: Hill says she had just enough time to grab the dog, a blanket and pillow and take cover in the bathtub before the tornado ripped away the roof and two of the home’s exterior walls.
Hill: We were only there a few seconds, and the roof went first. It sounds.. the sound is so horrifying, it’s impossible to explain the sound and the fear. I knew I was going to die. I was dead sure.
Haslett: Earlier today Smith County Judge Joel Baker asked Governor Greg Abbott to declare that part of Smith County a disaster area with estimates that road and bridge damage alone will cost more than $200K to repair.
