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Thursday, May 29, 1997

Rescuers search for hope amid tornado's destruction

By JAIME ARON / Associated Press Writer

JARRELL, Texas (AP) - Dennis Jaroszewski arrived in the Double Creek Estate subdivision minutes after the worst tornado to hit the state in a decade had finished taking its destructive bite out of the countryside.

He crossed roads that had been stripped of asphalt. He walked through houses that had been torn from their foundation, their belongings sucked out and flung miles away. He couldn't help but see all the dead, disfigured cattle.

Then, a huge machine lifted a cement wall, exposing a sight that still brought tears to his eyes nearly 24 hours later: the bodies of a woman and her young daughter, the child wrapped in her mother's protective arms.

"That's when most of us lost it," said Jaroszewski, a Williamson County constable.

By Wednesday, the death toll from Tuesday afternoon's twister was at 27 and another 23 were missing. The state insurance commissioner estimated damage at up to $20 million and Gov. George W. Bush asked the federal government for help rebuilding the community.

"It's hard to believe you're looking at a patch of earth where the life was literally sucked out of it," said Bush, who flew over the area in a helicopter, then met with victims at a shelter set up in a school cafeteria.

The buzzwords throughout this bedroom community of about 1,000 located 40 miles north of Austin were flattened, devastated and demolished. People couldn't talk enough about how they have no evidence of what was there just a day before.

"I don't know how much more simple I can make it," said high school principal John Johnson. "There's simply nothing there."

As many as 150 rescue workers from around the state were scouring the half-mile-wide, 5-mile-long stretch that used to be home to about 50 families in hopes that someone defied the odds and remained alive.

"Miracles do happen," said Sherri Deatherage Green, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Public Safety. "But there's just not much left standing."

Johnson said the warning sirens went off about 10 to 12 minutes before the impact, but the tornado that struck at 3:30 p.m. was so powerful that hiding in closets and bathtubs provided little shelter.

"I think there was as much warning here as there was anywhere else. And I think the victims of this accident did what they've been taught and told to do and it just didn't matter," Johnson said.

"Science is not that advanced," said Al Dreumont, meteorologist in charge at the NWS Austin-San Antonio forecast office. "It was too large to outrun and too strong to have survived unless you got away from the path."

Dreumont said the tornado swirled at more than 200 mph and was on the ground for 25-30 minutes. It wasn't in Jarrell all that time, but long enough to shave terrain to the bare ground and blow everything it touched into bits.

Dreumont confirmed local impression that this was the worst tornado in the area since May 17, 1989, when one woman died and 28 were injured. He said it was the state's worst since May 22, 1987, when 30 people died and 162 were injured in the far West Texas town of Saragosa.

One Jarrell victim died at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. The other 26 were plied from the wreckage and sent to the Travis County medical examiner's office in Austin to be photographed and fingerprinted for identification purposes.

Identifying the bodies won't be easy. Pictures and dental records will be used in many cases where the bodies were dismembered.

Jimmy Bitz, the local justice of the peace who must fill out the death certificates, said he would be extra cautious before making anything official.

"I hope it can happen today, but it may be tomorrow," he said.

The shelter and the First Baptist Church were the two hubs of activity, with displaced people loading up supplies at the school and friends and relatives awaiting news at the church. "Safe lists" with names of survivors were being circulated throughout town.

Volunteers flooded the shelter, dropping off donations of clothes and food and helping sort all the contributions. Boy Scouts unloaded truckloads of supplies donated by various businesses and a mobile blood center took donations in the parking lot.

Insurance companies and state agencies set up booths to assist victims with paperwork. Some people were given checks of up to $5,000 for immediate housing.

The proclamation Bush signed should bring officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Administration to the site by Thursday, said Tom Millwee, coordinator of the state's emergency management division.

Bush said he'd ask President Clinton for more help, if necessary.

"All it's going to take is one helicopter ride for some federal official to know what I know: this was a bad storm," Bush said. "This was the worst tornado I've ever seen."

FEMA is monitoring the Texas disaster but hasn't gotten involved beyond lending state officials two refrigerator trucks from Fort Hood that are being used as temporary mortuaries.

"We are looking at the situation very closely and have been all night long since the tornado touched down," said FEMA spokesman Morrie Goodman in Washington. "The president has been briefed on all that's going on, even overseas."

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Anyone who lives in the area, survived the tornado or wasn't there for it but may be feared missing is asked to call (512) 746-2124 or the American Red Cross at (800) 928-4271.

The Red Cross also has set up a nationwide phone number, (800) HELP-NOW, for people to call and offer assistance to Texas tornado victims.

Anyone wishing to contribute to a recovery fund can write to Eagle National Bank, Jarrell Civic League Recovery Fund, P.O. Box 345, Jarrell, Texas, 76537, or call (512) 746-2531.

The Dallas-area chapter of the Red Cross also is accepting donations for tornado victims at American Red Cross, 2300 McKinney Ave., Dallas, Texas, 75201. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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