The victims include Victor Ortiz, Laura Esparza, Miranda Esparza (15), Marco Esparza (9), Loyd Watson and two other children – 2-year-old and 5-year-old siblings whose names have not been released. A hundred other people were reportedly injured. A GoFundMe campaign was set up for the Ortiz family.
“This stuff can go away, no big deal, we’ll build back,” one neighbor named Jesse Helms told NBCDFW of the damage. “You can’t get the people back.”
Heavy storms continued into the week in North Texas, bringing widespread damage and power outages.
There were four confirmed tornadoes over the weekend, according to WFAA. The National Weather Service has given ratings to two of the tornadoes. One that hit northeast of Celina was an EF-3 that brought winds of up to 165 mph.
The one that killed seven people was an EF-3 that ran through Montague, Cooke and Denton counties, bringing winds of up to 135 mph. A supercell thunderstorm developed in Montague County late on May 25, according to WFAA. It then moved into Cooke and Denton counties, which endured widespread tree damage. Maintaining intensity, the fatal tornado then settled in on the Valley View area of Cooke County, damaging homes, cars, trees and a gas station and killing several.“You can’t get the people back.” – Jesse Helms, resident
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Monday that renters and homeowners in Collin, Cooke, Denton and Montague counties are eligible for assistance.
Including the four tornadoes over the weekend, nine tornadoes have struck North Texas since January, according to National Weather Service data. The weather service data for North Texas dates back to 1950, a year that zero tornadoes were recorded. Since then, the area has seen a total of 286 tornadoes, an average of about four a year.
The most tornadoes, 23, occurred in 1995 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The second-highest number came in 2015, with a total of 14.
North Texas tornadoes aren’t all that uncommon in May and June. In fact, since 1950, tornadoes have mostly struck the area in May with a total of 123. The month with the second-most tornadoes since 1950 was April, with 82. Coming in third is June, with 33 tornadoes in North Texas since 1950.
The numbers in the weather service data set are pretty much all over the board with no other real noticeable trends. However, nine tornadoes in a year is on the higher side of things.
Looking ahead, the next several months shouldn’t bring any more tornadoes if history is any indication. In the last 17 years, only one tornado has hit North Texas in June, according to the National Weather Service. In the last 24 years, only one July tornado has swept across the region.
