Officials in tornado-weary Jarrell relieved property damage was worst of Monday twister – Austin American-Statesman

JARRELL Judith Johnson hid in a closet with her husband, her mother and their two dogswhen a tornado struck the outskirts of Jarrell on Monday.

Four days later, she stood relaxed and chatting on her front porch. Only the roofs of a few sheds had been destroyed on her property, unlike in 1997, when atornado that hit Jarrell flattened herhouse and killed27 people in the area.

Officials on Friday said the tornado damaged or destroyed about 24 homes and a few businesses in the areas ofCounty Road 305, County Road 307, County Road 396 and County Road 487 northwest of Jarrell.

Two tornadoes hit Williamson County on Monday, including the one that started inJarrell, about 50 miles north of Austin. The other tornado beganat the intersection of Interstate 35 and Texas 45 in Round Rock. A third tornado hit the Elgin area in Bastrop County.No one was killed by the three twisters.

"The fact that we are cleaning up debris and we are not at funerals is amazing," Williamson County Commissioner Russ Boles said at a news conference Friday in Jarrell.

More:Central Texas communities recover from outbreak of tornadoes

Friday's event was at Jarrell Memorial Park, which stands on the site of what was once Larry Igo's home. Igo and his wife and their three children were killed in the 1997 tornado when their house was ripped from its foundation.

The tornadoes in Williamson County on Monday damaged about 33 businesses, County Judge Bill Gravell said at the news conference. The twisters also destroyed 1,000 homes in the county, with most of the damage in Round Rock.

Gravell said he had requested that Gov. Greg Abbott apply for federal assistance and was expecting Federal Emergency Management Agency teams to arrive in the county to assess damage next week.

Jarrell Mayor Larry Bush said that he and his wife had lived through the 1997 tornado, and it had been much bigger than the one that hit on Monday.

Watch:See videos that captured tornadoes, high winds tearing through Elgin, Round Rock

"The tornado that came in 1997 was three-quarters of a mile wide. … The tornado on Monday was actually smaller," he said.

Meteorologists rated the 1997 Jarrell tornado as an EF-5, the top of the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds at 261 mph. The winds in the tornadoon Monday were estimated to have reached 100mph.

The path of the tornado that hit Jarrell on Monday at one point crossed the path that the 1997 killertornado had taken, officials said.

Two businesses in the area were destroyed, Bushsaid. There was amixture of damage in the area, he said.

"We've seen several manufactured homes that were taken down to the tires, and then we've seen a couple of shingles missing," he said.

How strong was the Jarrell tornado?Storm spun with 100-mph winds, partially overlapped path of deadly 1997 twister

Bush said the county's weather alert system,which sends notifications to cellphones, helped residents escape serious injuries on Monday.

Volunteers, including Jarrell school district Superintendent Toni Hicks, were in Jarrell on Friday helping clean up debris. Hicks said she also helped clean up the debris from the 1997 tornado.

"In 1997,the concrete was pulled off the road and trees were stripped clean," she said. "This is not like that. The tornado bounced around," she said.

Another volunteer, Larnell Camus, described some of the items she and her relatives had picked off the ground Fridayin Jarrell. "It was a lot of personal checks, like canceled checks, and pictures and perfect attendance awards," she said.

Johnson said she and her husband were out of town during the 1997 Jarrell tornado, but when they returned home all she could find were eight buried chains on their property where they once had a small frame house, several classic carsand tools.Amish volunteers helped rebuild her home in 1997, she said.

On Friday, she walked out of her home and found a picture of a little girl in a basketball uniform on her property, she said. Johnson said she returned it to the neighbors that she thought had lost it.

"They broke into tears, and I hugged them," she said. "I said to them, 'Things will come and things will go but you are still here.'"

The city of Round Rock announced it will hostacleanup event Saturday in the Kensington and Windy Park neighborhoods for the public to help withtornado recovery efforts.

Those who volunteer will help clear construction debris and tree limbs that are lining street curbs and load it into garbage trucks. People are asked to park and sign up at either Dell Technologies Building No. 3,2300 Greenlawn Blvd., or atSuccess High School,500 Gattis School Road.

Volunteers can arrive at either location at 8-8:30 a.m. or 12-12:30 p.m.

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Officials in tornado-weary Jarrell relieved property damage was worst of Monday twister - Austin American-Statesman