My great aunt Pearl watched her West Texas home wiped out by tornadoes three times in as many years. So she moved permanently into her storm cellar. She had it fixed up pretty nice, but still, it was just a hole in the ground without windows. As much as I like windows, however, if I lived in Jarrell, I’d follow great aunt Pearl’s lead.
According to the National Weather Service, on an average basis, there are more tornadoes in Texas than any other state. In his book, Texas Weather, author and meteorologist George Bomar writes that the Lone Star state is a prime spawning ground for tornadoes by virtue of its location between the Gulf of Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. When cold air pours in from the north, meets the warm, moist air from the Gulf, and then is joined by warm, much drier air flowing in from Mexico at altitudes of 10,000 to 15,000 feet, the stage is set for towering thunderheads, shearing winds, and deadly tornadoes.
I’ve never seen a tornado, only a waterspout out our window when we lived at the bay. I didn’t get to see it for long, however, as my mom stuffed me and my sister into the closet before we could even protest. Considering the size and intensity of the monster twister that hit Jarrell, I don’t think the conventional advice to take shelter in an interior closet would have been much protection at all. And neither would fleeing in your car. When the worst tornado in recent Texas history hit Waco in May 1953, many people fled homes and buildings that remained untouched by the twister only to die in their vehicles.
How do you protect yourself and your home? With tornadic wind speeds estimated at 200-300 miles an hour, exerting a force as great as 800 pounds per square inch, I’m not sure you can. The freakish randomness of a tornado’s destruction adds to the sense of helplessness when facing one. One home can be completely demolished while the house next door remains untouched. Or consider the bizarre story of two men who were sucked out the front door of a house in Lipscomb County in 1947, lifted high in the air, then set down unharmed in a field several hundred feet away. They crawled back to the house to find it had completely disappeared except for the foundation, a lamp, and a couch on which sat one man’s wife and two children, unharmed but hysterical.
Until tornado predictions are more accurate, the best you can do is listen to the warnings. A tornado watch suggests conditions are ripe for twisters. A tornado warning means a tornado has been sighted and you better take heed. Although tornadoes are most frequent in April and May, the hurricane season is also ripe with twisters. When Hurricane Belah hit Brownsville in 1967, she triggered more than 100 tornados across the state. I know I’ve grown complacent about weather warnings; I think I’ll pay attention now.
If you’d like to help folks in Jarrell, they desperately need financial contributions, some of which will help pay for burials. Donations can be sent to: Jarrell Civic League Disaster Fund, c/o Eagle Bank, PO Box 345, Jarrell, TX, 76537 or the American Red Cross of Central Texas, 2218 Pershing, Austin, 78723. As of this writing, May 30, relief workers say they have been overwhelmed with donations of clothes and furniture, but can still use poptop canned food, juice, diapers, trash bags, cleaning supplies, and sunscreen.
This article appears in June 6 • 1997 and June 6 • 1997 (Cover).