100+ people sheltered in Valley View gas station destroyed by tornado
VALLEY VIEW — One of the most miraculous stories of survival Saturday night might have been in Valley View.
The walls of the gas station may have crumbled in the face of wind speeds up to 135 miles per hour as a tornado raced through Saturday night., tossing tractor-trailers into the building with ease and smashing windows, but this building served as a refuge for more than 125 people.
Families raced to the Shell gas station when they heard a tornado was on the way. Families like Hugo Barras'. He saw the gas station off the highway and decided to stop there to keep his family safe.
Inside, he ushered dozens of strangers to the safety of the interior bathrooms. He described the chaos that ensued inside as people ran for their lives.
"Everybody started running and pushing," said Barras. "'Calm down, calm down, we have time to go.' We was inside you feel when the air try to take everybody out from the restrooms. We saw everything was moving. We saw the glass, we saw everything. It was very bad. Very bad."
Barras doesn't consider himself a hero. He says he was just happy to help others.
Governor Abbott called it a miracle that no one inside was killed.
"Right behind us is a gas station, which has now gone viral across the country," Abbott said during a press conference Sunday. "I saw the harrowing video inside the Valley View gas station as the tornado passed through with the people stockpiled in there clinging to safety. It truly is a miracle that everybody made it through the devastation at that gas station, that they made it out alive."