By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Tornado damage struck the Bowie area once more and while the primary city-limits were spared the outlying area took the brunt of it.
Between 10-14 tornadoes were reported across central and north Texas Monday evening. The National Weather Service is surveying damage and as of noon, Tuesday had not made a determination if there was just one tornado or more than one came across the southern part of the county, or what type of tornado.
The tornado warning went out at 4:19 p.m. just on the heels of a tornado striking Jacksboro and causing extensive damage. Further south the system created tornadoes that struck Round Rock causing major damage.
In Bowie, the storm sirens started going off about 4:15 p.m. and residents were urged to take cover. At 4:31 p.m. a confirmed “rain-wrapped” tornado was located southwest of Bowie moving northeast at 40 mph. Heavy rain and damaging half-dollar size hail accompanied it.
This storm system appears to have started its path near Fruitland Road moving northeast across to State Highway 101 where there was significant damage to homes. Just east of Tower Road on Hwy. 101, a house looked like it exploded.
Bowie Police Sgt. Bob Blackburn said firefighters climbed into the debris to find three residents who had been trapped. Blackburn said he helped clear some of the debris as the residents, who were barefooted, were taken away from the collapsed structure.
“It looked like a thumb had come down and just squashed that house. It is surprising anyone survived,” exclaimed Blackburn.

County Judge Kevin Benton said Monday night it appears about a dozen homes were destroyed and another 60 received damage, however, as assessments continue in the daylight those figures could change. Last night there also were about 2,500 people without electricity. He noted while there were six citizens reportedly who went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, there were no deaths to report as of Monday.
Local law enforcement officers were patrolling the damaged areas to help protect assets.
“We are in the middle of assessing the damage today (Tuesday). The Texas Department of Emergency Management is sending a team to help, but they also are working in Jacksboro. It will be several days before we get actual numbers,” said the judge.
Monday night the judge signed a disaster declaration for the county and that will be forwarded to the governor’s office. It was expected the governor would declare a disaster in connection to these storms which opens up relief assistance to victims.

Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News. Also see a related story on the website about debris dumpsters being set up at the edge of Bowie. See more photos also in the mid-week edition.