"Hey, let's all go to the bathrooms. The bathrooms are the safest place," Hugo Parra said last Saturday minutes before a powerful EF-2 tornado, which left a trail of destruction across Texas, reached the restaurant where him and about 50 other people were taking refuge. His idea saved them all from harm.
The incident took place in the area near Lake Ray Roberts, which was full of tourists spending time there during Memorial Day weekend.
Hugo Parra and his family were driving on the I-35 highway when his mother warned him that there was a tornado alert for the Valley View area in Cooke County. He stopped the car at a restaurant in the area, which was next to a Shell gas station and an RV park.
"We checked the radar and it showed that the worst part was in Gainesville. Here it looked like it was going to be just the edge, not affecting anything," Parra told Univision. However, once inside the restaurant, the family realized that the tornado was approaching.
The winds began to increase in intensity after 10 p.m., leading more people to seek refuge in the restaurant. "We saw that it was getting bad, so people were moved away from the glass and windows but stayed in the restaurant and at the tables," he recalled.
That was when he told the cashier to move everyone to the bathroom, as he had heard that the smaller the place, the more protection there is. Fortunately, the employee listened to him, and were effectively taken to the bathrooms.
Minutes of uncertainty between fear and terror followed. "If people had stayed in the restaurant, right now we would be recounting many tragedies."
Winds gusting up to 135 mph blew into this restaurant as 50 people crowded into the men's and women's restrooms.
From there, they heard the glass shatter and the ceilings collapse onto the tables where they had been quietly waiting just minutes before.
It lasted ten minutes, but it seemed much longer. A mother was shouting for her lost son, while others were crying.
When they emerged, the restaurant's dining area was completely destroyed. "It had completely disappeared," describes the Univision article.
Parra looked around and thought, "This is a life opportunity that God gives us, and we must take advantage of it," as he would later tell the media. "I wasn't afraid; I felt like there was something that had to protect us."
Tornadoes killed at least 23 people during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, according to a report by The Associated Press. Meanwhile, powerful storms bringing destructive winds and hail battered north Texas on Tuesday morning.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
