Survivors recall Eagle Pass tornado

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) - David Sanchez was fixing a car at dusk when the winds began to howl and the rain began to pound his home, like spring storms are known to do around here.

Suddenly, shingles peeled free from his roof, the dog house flew by and mesquite trees snapped around him as a tornado cut a path through nearly 4 square miles of rural homes and schools in this border community Tuesday night.

At least 10 people were killed here and in the twin city of Piedras Negras, Mexico, across the Rio Grande.

"I never pray, and I was praying," the 50-year-old mechanic said in Spanish, as his daughter translated.

Soon, the storm passed, and neighbors began to pour into the darkening streets calling out to one another looking for those who needed help.

Night quickly fell, and flashlights flicked on as they began to look for those who might be missing in the neighborhood full of small children.

Sanchez and a neighbor looked for a missing resident and her children but couldn't even find any evidence of the trailer where they lived.

Dozens of search and rescue crews scoured the twisted remains of houses and trailer homes early Wednesday, going lot to lot, calling out for anyone who needed help and gingerly stepping into homes cut open like dollhouses and trailers reduced to piles of metal and debris.

Two tornadoes destroyed two empty elementary schools, a church, business and homes. Several mobile homes were still missing Wednesday.

The dead included a family of five: a young girl, her parents and two other family members,_ all killed when the wind tumbled their mobile home across the street and slammed it into Rosita Valley Elementary School.

"It was a whole family, and they were all together, probably like they were huddling," said police Officer Ezekiel Navjas, who arrived at the scene Tuesday evening just as crews were pulling from the wreckage the bloody body of the girl, believed to be between 4 and 6 years old.

"I've never seen nothing like this," he said, shaking his head as walked down a dirt road early Wednesday between homes with soggy curtains hanging out broken windows and mesquite treetops twisted from their trunks.

Neither Eagle Pass nor Piedras Negras had a siren warning system like those used to help people evacuate ahead of the storm when it hit North Texas.

One of the dead was found in a house, and another died after being taken in critical condition to a San Antonio hospital, authorities said. In all, 81 people were taken to the city's only hospital, though most were discharged with minor injuries. Four remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

In Piedras Negras, three people were killed and 300 homes were damaged. About 1,000 people sought refuge in shelters in Piedras Negras, where 32 people were killed by a tornado three years ago.

About 350 residents from Eagle Pass were in shelters and were being kept from their homes until rescuers could complete their search of the area. Search teams made up of police, firefighters, Border Patrol agents and National Guard soldiers were picking their way through homes and marking searched buildings with spray-painted "X's" like those used by searchers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Eagle Pass resident Ricardo Tijerina, who rode out the storm with his six children in a house near the school, said he saw the storm roll in at about 7 p.m., as dusk fell, but didn't expect anything out of the ordinary.

"I saw some clouds, but I never imagined it was going to be that bad," said Tijerina, whose children, ages 5-15, crowded under their beds while he watched a neighbor's trailer roll off its foundation.

He and another man went out in the wind to make sure everyone in the neighbor's trailer was OK, but the family, with seven children, was not home when the tornado hit, he said.

School was canceled Wednesday in Eagle Pass, a border city of about 26,000 about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio. Like most border towns, it is heavily dependent on its relationship with its Mexican neighbor and the Kickapoo tribe's Lucky Eagle casino.

The tornado hit near Eagle Pass at about 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The other tornado blew through Piedras Negras later that night, but it was unclear if it touched down.

Elsewhere, the storm system flooded streets and peeled roofs off homes Tuesday in North Texas. Tornado sirens rang in several counties, and drivers and residents were rescued from flooded cars and suburban neighborhoods.