Tornado-Affected Residents Finding Help in Runaway Bay Shelter

by Carl Manning, guest contributor

Red Cross shelter manager Jen Edwards of Dallas talks with Brittiany Spain
while her three-year-old son Gabriel and husband Jarid wait.
The family came to the shelter after a tornado that went through
Runaway Bay, Texas, damaged their home. 

Three-year-old Gabriel Spain, along with his parents Jarid and Brittiany, showed up at the Red Cross shelter set up in Runaway Bay, Texas in search of a place to stay.

The youngster looked around the reception area clutching his toy truck and quietly explained: “Our house had a tornado. We hid in the closet.”

The family’s home was damaged by the tornado, tearing off large sections of the roof, exposing the interior to the rain and leaving the carpets a squishy mess.

The Spain family were among several who suffered through the tornado. Several condos a short distance away sustained major roof damage, forcing occupants to look elsewhere for a place to stay until repairs are completed.

The day after the tornado, the Red Cross began working on opening the shelter at the CrossWay Church. Red Cross emergency response vehicles drove through the community to provide food, water and cleanup supplies. 

Red Cross volunteer Steve Bales of Brownwood, Texas,
arrived with his Emergency Response Vehicle at Runaway Bay
 after a tornado went through a section of the community.
He talks resident to learn where the damage is in the community.

“We provide the people with what they need in the recovery process,” said Red Cross volunteer Steve Bales of Brownwood, Texas who drove one of the vehicles into the community.

He stopped at the Runaway Bay City Hall to talk to people gathered there to find out what where the tornado had done its damage so he would know where to go.  

At the shelter, Brittiany provided additional details to Red Cross volunteer Jen Edwards of Dallas, the shelter manager who made sure there were enough cots in the coverted sanctuary and food at the kitchen serving window.

Jen explained the shelter was opened to provide a safe place for people to stay if they didn’t have any place to go after the tornado. It’s among some 16 Red Cross shelters opened across Texas in the past two weeks because of severe weather. 

Brittiany explained it was her first tornado and when she first heard it, she wasn’t sure what was happening. But Jarid had grown up is southwest Kansas were tornadoes are about as common as cattle and wheat fields. 

“When the noise started, I knew exactly what it was,” he said, holding his son close to him. 

Brittiany added: “He said go to the closet now. Then the house started shaking and then there was the sound of breaking glass as the roof came off. It really was scary.”

The parents said they’re most thankful for escaping unharmed with their son.

“I have the two most important things in my life. Everything else can be replaced,” the burley oil field worker said. 

The Red Cross continues to provide critical humanitarian relief in Runaway Bay, Wichita Falls and nearly 100 other counties around Texas during this ongoing spring storm relief effort. You can help! Visit RedCross.org/Donate or call 1-800-REDCROSS to give.

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"This is Just a Setback" - Bridgeport Residents Begin to Rebuild

by Carl Manning, guest contributor

Red Cross workers help residents affected by a tornado in Bridgeport, TX.

Wesley Campbell was in bed when he heard the sounds outside his home and he knew the worst was happening. A tornado was heading straight for his home in a rural area near Bridgeport, Texas.

His wife, Mickey, yelled for him to get up and get out of the house, and they headed for the back door. But it was too late.

“We got there and that was as far as we got before it hit,” he recalled. “We got down behind the washer and dryer and waited. I could feel the house moving in all directions and we prayed hard.”

Bridgeport resident Wesley Campbell looks at damage to his
home after a tornado outbreak.

It didn’t take Wesley long to realize his worst fears had come true – the house he had called home for 15 years was in tatters and scattered. Sitting on the tailgate of his pickup, Wesley sipped from a bottle of water and looked at what’s left as friends and family gathered up what they could to put in his storage barn.

“This is our house, so sure, we’ll rebuild,” he said. “This is just a setback.”

As he looked around, Red Cross workers began arriving to offer assistance to Wesley and his neighbors. 

“It’s wonderful and unbelievable that so many came out to help. It makes me feel good. People I don’t even know are here,” he said of the Red Cross workers and others who were there to help.

A few hundred yards away, Scott Brandon talked to a Red Cross worker about losing his trailer home during a three-minute ordeal he said he’ll never forget.

“The trailer started moving and then it quit. Then it started moving again and then it stopped and it rained hard for an hour,” he recalled. 

Looking at the twisted wreckage that once was his home, Scott shook his head and said, “I’ve been walking around in a daze, feeling out of place and wanting to cry. But all my friends are okay and that’s what matters.” 

As he talked, a Red Cross emergency response vehicle arrived, bouncing along the rut-filled dirt road to set up operations to hand out snacks and water plus clean-up items like work gloves and tarps.

“They’re here to help us and if they can help us, that’ll be great,” Scott said.

One Red Cross worker grabbed an armload of work gloves from the vehicle and started passing them out to those working on a house with its metal roof twisted and torn and its windows broken.

Another standing by the Red Cross vehicle was busy handing out bottled water and snacks. One woman in line with her children and two dogs, when offered condolences, smiled and said, “Oh, it can all be replaced.”

The Red Cross continues to provide critical humanitarian relief in Bridgeport, Runaway Bay, Mineral Wells and more than 70 other counties around Texas during this ongoing spring storm relief effort. You can help! Visit RedCross.org/Donate or call 1-800-REDCROSS to give.

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