Texas City’s Historic Downtown Leveled by Tornado That Killed 3

A business district dating to the years just after the Civil War was left in ruins Tuesday after a tornado smashed through town, killing three people and destroying up to 200 homes, authorities said.

“I think there’s a lot of hard days ahead, a lot of them,” Police Chief Mac McGuire said.

A building that once housed a bank robbed by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker lost all of its second floor except for a corner facade.

A mattress dangled from a tree in front of the 119-year-old Odd Fellows Hall, which lost much of its second floor.

The twister struck this former cotton farming region Monday night. The area has become one of Dallas’ fastest-developing suburbs.

The tornado’s path through Lancaster was six miles long and a half-mile wide, said Trooper Robert White of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The deadly weather moved north Tuesday to Gainesville, 70 miles away, where a tornado heavily damaged a trailer park and tore apart billboards and other structures.

In Minnesota, homes and other buildings sustained heavy damage Tuesday when a tornado touched down west of Stillwater, authorities said. No serious injuries were reported.

By Tuesday morning, the weather in the northern Plains had reverted to wintry conditions. Up to eight inches of snow fell in northeastern Wyoming and a foot fell in the Black Hills of South Dakota, closing some roads and schools. Blizzards clogged roads across North Dakota, and Gov. Edward T. Schafer closed the state Capitol.