Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a disaster area in Van Zandt County, following last night's deadly tornado.
Mark Haslett: Late Sunday night, an EF-3 tornado tore through the city of Van in eastern Van Zandt County. Two people were killed and three remain unaccounted for. Today, the air was still and the streets were dry in the town of about 2,600 – but an atmosphere of crisis remained.
Helicopters from Dallas-Fort Worth and Tyler television stations hovered above the scenes of wreckage, which made the national news. Local officials said that about a third of the town suffered damage from the twister, which was estimated at three quarters of a mile wide and two miles long.
Most of those areas were off limits to the public today, even to those who live in the stricken areas, as downed electrical lines, ruptured gas lines and other hazards made the neighborhoods unsafe. David Smith and his brother Justin are among the many who haven’t been home since last night.
David Smith: Unfortunately, nobody’s allowed on Bois d’Arc. There’s no power – power lines are down real bad. Most of our houses are too far damaged for anybody to be able to live in. At least until we can get repairs done, we’re going to have to stay somewhere else.
Justin Smith: We don’t even know what our house looks like now…
David Smith: We haven’t even been on that road at all today.
Haslett: The Smith brothers were among the scores of people who stopped in at the American Red Cross service areas in the First Baptist Church. A triage station tended those with minor injuries. Over 40 were hurt in the storm, and those needing hospitalization were taken to nearby Tyler. The church’s gymnasium was filled with cots for sleepers along with tables and chairs where people shared stories over donated food. David Smith says the moments before the tornado struck were so calm, his wife thought the storm was winding down.
David Smith: So I went outside to look around. And then that’s when the sirens hit. We bolted back in the house, got the kids in the bathroom. Got them covered, and that’s when everything just kind of hit.
Haslett: So what happened to y’all’s house?
David Smith: Bunch of broken windows and some doors coming off, nothing real serious. But our neighbors across the street – their house is completely gone. We went outside after the first one just to check damages and that’s when we noticed that their house was gone, ran over there to try to help them out…
Haslett: About 100 homes were damaged or destroyed in the storm. Other buildings hit included the middle school, which will be unusable for the rest of the semester.
