Tornado tears through TX town
A possible tornado tore through near the town of Mission, Texas early Wednesday.
BY SUSAN KIM | MISSION, Texas | April 30, 2003
A possible tornado tore through near the town of Mission, Texas early Wednesday morning, destroying 13 homes and damaging 10 others, according to J.D. Villarreal, chief administrator for the Hidalgo County Commissioner's Office."Most of these were either mobile homes or were poorly constructed," he said. Local churches and the American Red Cross were helping survivors who needed food, clothing and temporary shelter, he added.
Eleven people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Villarreal added.
A subdivision northwest of Mission, called Solida del Sol, was hardest hit, according to local reports, when the storm roared through just after midnight. School was canceled in the local district, and school officials were making counseling available to children who may have been traumatized by the storm, Villarreal said.
Mission is in southern Texas in the Rio Grande Valley.
On April 30, 2003, America was positioned to be the catalyst for the so-called "solution" to the Middle East crisis. As Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in, the "Road Map" peace plan was set in motion. The very next day began the worst month of tornadoes in United States history - more than 500 in a single month. Under normal conditions, 1,000 tornadoes hit the United States each year, but in just eight days that May, 375 twisters ripped across the heartland of America.
May 9, 2003, President Bush addressed students at the University of South Carolina. Bush called on the Palestinians to embrace the roadmap to peace, and Bush expressed his desire to see the flag of Palestine raised over a free nation. Hours later, tornadoes returned and Oklahoma City again became the target for deadly twisters, reducing many businesses and homes to splinters and bricks. The tornadoes of May devastated the Midwest with the third worst property damage in American history.
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