On May 22, 1987, a devastating F4 tornado struck the small community of Saragosa in Reeves County, Texas, forever changing the lives of its residents. The violent multiple-vortex tornado touched down just east of Balmorhea around 8:16 PM, quickly intensifying as it approached Saragosa, where it destroyed 80 percent of the town and claimed 30 lives, making it the deadliest tornado in the United States during the 1980s. The most heartbreaking loss occurred at the Catholic Hall of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, where 22 people, including many children, perished during a pre-kindergarten graduation ceremony.
Despite the tornado being a well-predicted event with warnings issued at least 21 minutes before it hit Saragosa, many residents never received the alert. The town lacked a warning siren and emergency services, and many residents didn’t own televisions or radios; those who did often tuned to Mexican stations that didn’t broadcast weather alerts. The community’s first awareness came when a late-arriving parent spotted the tornado approaching from the west and interrupted the graduation ceremony to warn attendees, who immediately took cover, but even the concrete block building couldn’t withstand the direct hit from the violent F4 tornado.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, Saragosa rebuilt with resilience and determination. The Catholic Hall and community center were reconstructed with steel-reinforced masonry designed to withstand an F4 tornado, and a storm shelter was installed under one wing of the new community center. Though many displaced residents relocated to nearby communities like Pecos, the disaster demonstrated the deep roots of this community, whose existence dated back nearly a century with residents spanning multiple generations. Despite most being unemployed and uninsured at the time of the disaster, their determination to rebuild spoke to the enduring spirit that defines small-town Texas.
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