Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 3

3-A THURSDAY, May 18, 1989, Longview Newi-Journal o)Io) 1 1 LL imim 5 "TV I I Residents mop up after deadly tornado devastates small town i 4 1 1 Fv 1 i "'l 'V ft, AP LoserPhoto AP laierPhoto JoAnn Fojtik, left, hugs her cousin Bernice the house were ripped off by a tornado. The Hernandez in the living room of her parents' residents of the house suffered minor home in Jarrell. The roof and exterior walls of Injuries. An aerial iview shows the destruction Central Texas town of Jarrell. One woman i caused by a twister which leveiea the was Kinea ana aozens more were mjurea.

pr-n Tornado facts Gopter South Longview homes flood again rescue ill: i i 1 6 1 'II 5 I A By Michael Ramey Staff Writer Residents along Irving Street in north Longview were just replacing furniture and carpet damaged from the March 29 flood when the water from nearby Elm Creek invaded their homes again Tuesday. The more than four inches of rain that pelted the city early Tuesday also flooded two houses on Peterson Circle in South Long-view, causing the sewer to back up in a family's home there. The residents of both areas are blaming the city for inadequate drainage facilities and say they may file lawsuits if the problem is not corrected. "We had just had new carpet put down, and we had our new furniture in the garage when it flooded," Jo Anne Thomas of 210 Irving St. said.

"We haven't even unpacked the new furniture yet." The Thomas' were forced to live in their travel trailer when their home flooded from the 11-inch rains and city sewer March 29. Thomas said she and her husband had just moved back into their home Friday. Thomas said the rising water only entered their' entry hall, and that three other homes along the street were flooded. "This is a drainage problem that could easily be repaired by the city, but we may have to file a lawsuit with other Irving Street residents in order to get the problem corrected," she said Tuesday. "We haven't had a home for two months, then when we move in, it floods again." Retia Castleberry, the Thomas' neighbor at 209 Irving said her home was flooded again, and5 that the water ran across the concrete where her carpet had been and ruined her bedrooms this time.

"I haven't even collected the insurance from, the first flood in By Jwray Robtrtitloff photographar Rita Castleberry of 209 Irving in Longview places a pot under her couch to raise it up in preparation for more flooding Wednesday afternoon. The Castleberrys believe the flooding Is a result of a drainage ditch culvert that is too small in size and partially clogged. Pilot saves girls, mother from car CLEBURNE (AP) Maneuvering his aircraft with one hand while reaching out with his other, a radio station helicopter pilot plucked two girls and their mother off the roof of their car Wednesday seconds before it was swept into a rain-swollen creek. Dick Siegel, morning and afternoon traffic reporter for WBAP radio in Fort Worth, rescued Sue Laird and her daughters, Kelly, 9, and Brady, 7, after their car stalled on a bridge east of Cleburne. As KPLX-KLIF helicopter pilot Ken Arnold and traffic reporter Chuck Scnechner guided him from their aircraft, Siegel lowered his helicopter between trees and hovered over the trunk of the car to reach the woman and children.

"It was teetering over the bridge. We hovered to the back window," Siegel said. WBAP news director Joe Hal-stead said Siegel got his helicopter over the car close enough to reach the youngest girl. Siegel said he "grabbed the little girl and pulled her in. I told her to help the little sister.

She reached out and helped get her sister. "The lady then climbed on top of the car and climbed into the copter." Siegel said he could not set his helicopter skids onto the car for fear the weight of the aircraft would topple the teetering car before he rescued the woman and children. H. R. Floyd, a Cleburne car dealer, was killed when his car was swept into McAnear Creek shortly after noon.

March," Castleberry said. "AlMhe city would have to do is clean out the creek and enlarge the culvert where the creek passes under Irving Street to solve this prob Three die in Dallas-Fort Worth storms The following tornado facts were compiled from Associated Press files and the National Weather Service: Records show May is the most dangerous month for tornadoes in Texas, Including the Saragosa storm of 1987, the Lubbock tornado of 1970, the Waco tornado of 1953 and the Goliad twister of 1902. Tornadoes have killed 1,015 Texans so far this century, averaging about 1 1 per year. two deadliest twist-efs, in Texas history, in Waco and Goliad, came nearly half a century apart. Each killed 114 people.

Never try to outrun a tornado In a car. At least half the 46 fatalities in the 1979 Wichita Falls tornado were people killed in their cars. Most tornadoes track southwest to northeast, but their paths can spiral and be erratic. The portion of a thunderstorm adjacent to large fiall is where tornadoes are most likely to occur. i Most injuries and deaths in-, result from flying debris.

Tornadoes can occur In dhy month, but are more frequent between April and June and between 3 and 6 p.m. Less than 2 percent of all tornadoes are classified as violent, with wind speeds 6f more than 200 mph and a bath averaging 26 miles in length. Tornadoes travel at an average speed of 30 mph, but can stand still or sprint at 70 mph. -''Since 1950, Johnson, Tarrant and Dallas counties have had the most twisters in North Texas. The last tornado death in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was April 2, 1957.

The longest tornado on record traveled 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana in March 1925. The largest single outbreak of twisters was in April 1974, when 148 storms killed 300 people in 13, states during a two-day period. The body of Dorothy Davis, 56, whose car stalled and was swept into a creek, was found about a half-mile from where firefighters had tried to rescue her. In Grand Prairie, the body of Melvin James Osborne, 73, was recovered from a truck in a creek branch about 8 a.m. said police Lt.

James Gatlin. Witnesses told police Osborne drove around a barricade to attempt to cross the creek, he said. forced school closings and delays. The bodies of a Dallas woman and a Grand Prairie man who ignored barricades blocking off low-water crossings were found in flooded creeks early Wednesday morning, officials said. Cleburne authorities also pulled the body of man from a swollen creek.

The Red Cross and other agencies established emergency shelters for people who were ordered out of their homes because of high water. DALLAS (AP) Three people were killed and hundreds of others were evacuated from their homes during violent thunderstorms that roared through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday. The storm, which had dumped 2.04 inches at Dallas-Fort Worth International airport by late after-, noon, flooded saturated ground and sent many creeks and lakes over their banks. Flooded streets and washed out bridges also "The fire department told us to move out at about 2 a.m.," said Don Reiter, who was one of 30 people to escape high water in Kennedale by going to a shelter. Most of the more than 125 who were evacuated in Kennedale lived in the Village Creek mobile home park.

Firefighters in Dallas tried desperately to reach a woman who was swept into Five Mile Creek after her car stalled on a bridge above the swollen stream. Area schools take warnings seriously By Lee Kelly Business Editor Students in area schools spent most of Wednesday morning taking their tornado warning drill seriously, as torrential storms spawned half a dozen twisters sighted from Lake Palestine to Gladewater. "We've spent a lot of time in the halls, particulary today," Spring Hill superintendent Mike Cross-land said Wednesday. "Wetook it for real, and so did our students. When that horn (Longview's emergency warning system) went off for the second time today, the students paid attention" Spring Hill scheduled elementary school lunches 20 minutes later than usual to make sure the threat had subsided before students entered the relatively onen cafeteria.

Crossland said. Officials at Longview, Pine Tree and White Oak schools said students went through their regular tornado drills during the morning, and Hallsville, which sent students into the halls Tuesday, kept a close eye on the developing weather situation. At Hallsville, Ann Walston said officials monitor 24-hour weather radio and listen to emergency reports dispatched directly from police and fire departments. "We have direct communication with each principal to tell them when to put the drill into practice," she said. During the drill, students seek shelter in a secure area, usually an interior hallway, and crouch in a "tucked" position, according to a spokesman for White Oak Superintendent Robert Proctor By AlUn HntlyttoH photograpKr Wednesday morning.

Rhone was working in the office when the alarm sounded, so she headed under the counter to get some studying done, Raegan Rhone, an eighth grade stuoent at Pine Tree Junior High School, takes cover under a counter in the office during a tornado alarm.