Texas tornado victims try to get back on their feet

Joel Arreolo says it took less than a minute for the tornado that tore through here this week to destroy the life he spent 35 years building.

As he picked through the rubble Thursday of what was his general store and home, his eyes reddened with tears.

“It was my dream to leave something for my son, or send him to college,” he said. “It’s too late for me now.”

Scanning the horizon of mangled metal, shredded pink insulation and splintered wood, Arreolo, 64, was overwhelmed.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “Everything has blown away.”

The story was the same for blocks, as residents returned to survey the damage.

Some found slabs of concrete where their mobile homes once stood. Others stared numbly at piles of wood that resembled kindling more than their former homes. Only the beep-beep of a truck backing up and the rumble of heavy equipment starting the cleanup broke the silence.

Texas lawmakers have urged President Bush to expedite Gov. Rick Perry’s request for a disaster declaration, Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez (D-Texas) said after touring the area.

“This is the first time in 50 years this community has been hit by a tornado,” he said.

He said officials would discuss whether to install tornado warning sirens.

The death toll in Texas is seven, with more than 80 people injured. Four people remained in critical condition.

Across the Rio Grande, three people were killed in the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, and 1,000 people were homeless.

In Texas, as many as 200 people were homeless, said Maverick County Judge Jose Aranda.

On Casita Valley Drive, in a hard-hit area a few miles from Eagle Pass, Jose Duenes pulled a dresser off a pile of belongings. Children’s videos, dining room chairs, dishes and kitchen appliances were scattered about.

“As you can see, we don’t know where to start,” he said.

Duenes, his wife and three children were in their mobile home when the tornado hit. There was little time to react. They felt themselves tumbling backward -- the twister picked up the mobile home and slammed it down near a neighbor’s house.

The family walked away with cuts and bruises.

Duenes pointed to a 35-foot linoleum floor propped against the neighbor’s house.

“That’s where the living room was,” he said. “Over there was our bedroom. We had carpet, but the wind tore it all off.”

Their 12-year-old daughter’s bedroom was thrown over the neighbor’s house and into a yard.

Concepcion Gutierrez, 58, is not happy that part of Duenes’ mobile home is wedged against her house.

“I told them it shouldn’t be there,” she said.

Gutierrez was not hurt, and her home escaped damage. Her living room is immaculate, and the three-dimensional face of Jesus is where she put it years ago -- over the washing machine. But three cars were crushed by Duenes’ mobile home.

When the tornado came, she said, she huddled in the laundry room with her four grandchildren, then got down on her knees and prayed.

“It’s bad, but it could have been even worse,” she said.

“We’re alive.”

lianne.hart@latimes.com