Saragosa, Texas tornado

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Saragosa, Texas tornado

Date of tornado:

May 22, 1987

Time:

8:16 pm

Rating of tornado:

F4 tornado

Damages:

$2.5 million (1987 USD)

Fatalities:

Area affected:

Saragosa, Texas

The Saragosa, Texas tornado was a deadly tornado that hit the community of Saragosa in Reeves County, Texas on May 22, 1987. The tornado destroyed much of the town, killing at least 30 and injuring over 100 people.

1 Storm event
2 Aftermath
3 Historical perspective
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Storm event

The storm that was responsible for the Saragosa tornado developed during the late afternoon north of Balmorhea and had very little motion for several hours moving slightly across southwestern Texas. By the early evening it acquired supercellular characteristics and cloud tops reached 60,000 feet high. A Tornado warning was issued for Reeves County before 8:00 PM after a wall cloud was spotted and a brief tornado touched down near Balmorhea at 8:10 PM.

However at 8:16 PM, another tornado touched down just east of the town about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Saragosa north of Interstate 10. Initially, it destroyed farms and outbuildings before evolving into a large multiple vortex tornado before entering Saragosa while intensifying sharply into a violent F4 tornado. 22 people were killed inside Guadalupe Hall where a graduation ceremony was taken place. 8 others were killed elsewhere across the town including one inside a car.

The worst of the damage occurred inside most of the business and residential area and 80% of the town was destroyed. In addition to the town hall, 118 homes, the post office, a grocery store, two churches and a school were also heavily damaged or destroyed.^[1]^[2] Damage was estimated at about $1.4 million and the path length of tornado was nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) long but was about 800 meters wide.^[3]

[edit] Aftermath

Despite several warnings being issued about the threatening weather and coverage by radio and television in the Midland and Odessa region, many residents in the region did not receive the warnings. However, most of the warnings well ahead of the storm were in English, while most of its population speaks Spanish and while there was coverage in Spanish it was too late.^[4]

Most people inside the community center where 22 were killed were not warned until one person spotted the incoming storm and thus altering the crowd which was estimated to be about 100 or about 25% of the Saragosa entire population - most of them were children. However, it was indicated that most fatalities inside the buildings were other people seeking refuge inside near the outside walls while most participants in the ceremony were much closer to the center of the building, one of the most safest areas to be in when there is no basement or below-ground space available. Some of the parents used tables, benches and themselves as shields to protect the children yet several of them were killed by flying debris.^[5]^[6]

[edit] Historical perspective

The Saragosa tornado with its 30 fatalities was the deadliest storm in the United States during the 1980s and was at the time the deadliest storm in Texas and in the US since the Wichita Falls tornado in 1979. During the following years, it was surpassed by the Birmingham, Alabama Tornado in 1998 and the Oklahoma City Metro Area tornado in 1999 that killed 32 and 36 respectively although the Jarrell Tornado in 1997 killed nearly as many as in the Saragosa event.^[7]

As of 2008, it still remains as the ninth deadliest tornado ever in the state between the Zephyr tornado in 1909 and the Lubbock Tornado in 1970.^[8]. The community was also destroyed in 1938 by a severe tornado and was later rebuilt slightly to the southwest.^[9]