The placid atmosphere of Eagle Pass, Texas, was torn asunder on April 24 as severe weather moved into the border town, killing seven people, obliterating an elementary school and destroying properties and homes.
In a response effort Gov. Rick Perry termed "tremendous," local and state agencies rushed to the scene to deliver aid and care for the casualties. Among the responders was the Texas National Guard.
Many of the Texas Guard Soldiers were stationed in Eagle Pass well before the storm. They were members of Operation Jump Start €” the federal operation designed to intensify border security. Sgt. Levy Womble and Spc. Manuel Chavez were two of these Soldiers.
For these two, it had been an average day. Off duty, the two were at a local fast-food restaurant when they witnessed emergency response vehicles and ambulances streak by them toward the destroyed school. The two immediately left the restaurant and went home to grab their uniforms. They arrived at ground-zero to find what remained of the Rosita Valley Elementary School. Like a giant wrecking ball, a tornado had toppled the school; its entrails of wood, brick and concrete littered the area.
Local responders were pulling dead bodies from the wreckage. Family members of the dead and injured looked on.
"We were putting the dead in body bags and carrying them out on stretchers," Womble said. "There was one child and two adults. When I arrived, two bodies had already been placed in bags and were being moved off site."
Soon more responders arrived. By 8 a.m. Wednesday, 80 Guardmembers from Operation Jump Start were on the scene.
"The hardest part for me is seeing the families who have either lost their loved ones or their homes," Chavez said about the relief effort. "Seeing these families just makes me want to work a little bit harder."
When the main body of first responders arrived, the families were moved to a safer location. Now regulated to the street, many stood behind police barricades and Soldiers, wondering what had become of their homes. To ease their curiosity, government agents gave rides to the locals, allowing them to witness the destruction from a safe distance.
One of these witnesses was Laura Garcia. She is a teacher at the neighboring Rosita Valley Literacy Academy where she teaches pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first graders how to read and write. The academy had been completely destroyed.
"I am worried about what we are going to do," Garcia said. "I have been trying to reach the children, but have been unable to. We have been visiting various shelters in the area looking for them." She later added that most of the children would be moved to neighboring schools as early as the following week.
The final results have yet to be tallied, but seven people have been confirmed dead. The number of injured is unknown. In a press conference Gov. Perry labeled the devastation as stunning, but he said he was impressed with the response effort. According to him, in merely 12 hours a virtual city of state and local responders had materialized around the elementary school to secure the area.
The largest contingent of the Texas National Guard had converged on Eagle Pass within hours after the storm. This contingent included: four Guardmembers and two vehicles from the 6th Civil Support Team; five Guardmembers and two vehicles from the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability Team; a UH-60 helicopter and crew; and an additional team of 30 Guardmembers and 10 high-profile response vehicles. At present, a process is under way to find housing for the families who have lost their homes.