Tuesday marks 68 years since the deadliest Texas tornado in more than a century

WACO, Texas — The year was 1953. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Allan Shivers was governor of Texas. The year also saw one of the deadliest known tornadoes in the history of the Lone Star State. On May 11, 1953 a violent tornado ripped through downtown Waco, claiming 114 lives. The National Weather Service states…

ORIGINAL COVERAGE: Tornado hits West Texas city, one dead, 80 Injured

Editor’s Note: This article was written on April 19, 1986, following a deadly tornado that devastated the city of Sweetwater. SWEETWATER, Texas (AP) – Two tornadoes spawned by fast-moving thunderstorms hit this west Texas city without warning today, killing at least one person, injuring 80 people and causing millions of dollars in damage, authorities said.…

Paris residents remember devastating tornado 39 years later

PARIS, Texas (KXII) – Kyle McCarley remembers he took a late lunch on April 2 of 1982 and when he returned to work at the Paris Lumber and Building Center he noticed an “eerie stillness” to the air. “I thought ‘this is a tornado day’,” McCarley said. “We got in our fireproof vault where we…

Tornado, winds wreak havoc near Canyon Lake

A tornado that accompanied the storm that passed through Comal County early Tuesday morning damaged nearly two dozen homes in the Canyon Lake area, weather officials said. Ethan Williams, a National Weather Service meteorologist based at New Braunfels Regional Airport, said the tornado, confirmed Tuesday afternoon, ranked as an EF1 on the enhanced Fujita scale,…

Tornado Causes Damage, Displaces Families in Houston Suburb

A tornado swept through a portion of a city in suburban Houston, displacing about 500 people from a damaged apartment complex, officials said Thursday. A strong storm swept through Texas City around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, causing heavy damage to a 129-unit apartment complex, said Tom Munoz, Texas City’s emergency management coordinator. A nearby convenience…