Texas injury attorneys report that Tuesday saw a cluster of powerful tornadoes devastate swaths of the DFW area as strong cold and warm fronts collided to create severe storms throughout the Metroplex. Roofs were stripped from buildings throughout the area. Homes and apartments were reduced to piles of sticks and rubble. And the Flying J truck stop at the southern edge of Dallas saw massive 18-wheelers hurled into the air and spun around like toys before crashing back to the ground.
News reports were filled with images of broken and crushed tractor-trailers scattered over the ground like so many discarded toys left in the wake of a large and heedless child. This writer now understands why it’s the “Flying” J truck stop. Seeing the sign while traveling, I had always thought it an odd name for a truck stop.
Our Texas injury attorneys note that the DFW Metroplex’s worst spate of tornadoes in quite some time strangely coincided with the absence of most of the area’s emergency management personnel who were attending the annual statewide Texas Emergency Management Conference in San Antonio.
But having the crème de la crème of the state’s emergency management personnel gathered in one spot had its advantages. A command center, set up in the midst of the conference space, was in place and functioning within a half hour of the tornadoes’ appearance in the Metroplex. In Dallas itself, emergency response seemed to function seamlessly, and residents received timely warnings to seek shelter as well as updates on the storms’ progress. Strangely, cell and cable service remained up throughout the storms in the Metroplex except in those areas where cables and cell towers were actually uprooted by the devastating tornadoes.
Which is not to say that the chaos of flying tractor-trailers, peeling roofs, and shattering buildings did not create a certain amount of real fear among local residents who had the misfortune to witness the disaster. In addition, the density of the thunderstorms lowered visibility to such an extent that the descent of the tornadoes could not necessarily be perceived visually prior to causing their massive destruction.
The DFW airport grounded planes and shut down to incoming planes for many hours as the powerful storms swept the area. So area emergency management personnel had no quick way to get back to the Metroplex to address issues on the scene of the destruction. But all in all, the distributed emergency response seems to have been effective.
Still I wonder if it might be unwise to gather the crème de la crème of the state’s emergency response knowledge and experience all in one place at one time under any circumstances. If the storms and tornadoes had chosen to turn their destruction on the San Antonio area, Texas might have seen quite a different scenario. I merely wonder this as one of the many Texans who relies on the strong and effective response of our EM personnel. I don’t think we could do without the help of these dedicated men and women in times of disaster.
Our Texas injury attorneys emphasize that Texas has had more than its share of disasters in recent years from major hurricanes, to a record-breaking drought and long-burning wildfires, to recent heavy rains and tornadoes. Our Texas injury attorneys, for instance, wrote about the wildfires that devastated Montgomery County several months ago. A strong and effective emergency response is the key to keeping Texans safe and the state functioning through all of these unpredictable disasters inflicted by man and nature.