Jarrel Tx Tornado

© 2002-2003 Roger Sadler	www.rogersadler.com PHOTO EXHIBITIONS
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Jarrell Tornado After the Storm		New slide show added with larger, higher resolution photos. Click here to begin. Most photos are 100k. Or you can click on the photos below to see a larger version. Three of these photos were published in "Twisting Up a Storm" in 2001 by Learning Media Limited of New Zealand for distribution in the US. The book is for 6th graders to get them involved in research and writing. The three photos are the pile of debris with a car on top, the bedsprings wrapped around a post, and the "view of the devastation." Two weeks after the F5 tornado in Jarrell, Texas I was able to go there to do some relief work.
photos and text by Roger Sadler		All of the houses were totally blown away by the F5 tornado and all that remained were empty slabs. The neighborhood roads wound around to empty foundations. The damaged area had a definite beginning and end. On the edge of the disaster, houses remained standing, minus windows and much of their roofs.
Memorial wreath at one of the destroyed homes. No place was safe in the path of this tornado. No closet nor bathtub afforded any protection. The only safe place was to run away from the tornado.
All the houses have been scoured to their slabs by the F5 tornado. Three more wreaths are on the right.
In this close-up of a slab, all that remained of the walls were lines making it look like it was under construction, not destruction. Pipes that couldn't be wrenched free were bent over in the direction of the wind.
The tornado left empty house slabs and a mixture of trash everywhere. An orderly neighborhood was transformed into a dump.
Another of the desolated slabs with a motorcycle that someone salvaged.
A close up of the motorcycle showing the muddy hay and debris that swirled and jammed into every crevice.
A car was sucked up in the 300 mph tornado. The swirling mud, debris, and human bodies all blended together and then was dropped.
These bedsprings hit a tree that then snapped off above the springs. The pile of trash in the background was spread evenly over the entire site.
This tree was the largest left standing. In the background are piles of debris that have been bulldozed up. Also the flatness of the field is apparent. The site was very flat especially since everything was sucked up. Before the tornado this was a neighborhood with houses and sheds, fences, cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

Sign duct-taped to a Chem-Can. Tempers flared in the aftermath of the destruction and some of it was directed at the authorities.	ATTENTION JARRELL RESIDENTS There will be a town meeting, Thursday 7:00 pm at the Fire Dept. MAIN TOPIC ABUSE FROM THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
Many of the driveways had "No Trespassing", "Landowners Only", and "Keep Out" signs. Already trailer homes and RV's were on some of the sites.
An eight inch piece of scrap metal, a mobile home logo.
	The tornado didn't sound like a train. It sounded like 3 or 4 trains. *Survivor*
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After the Storm