Irving families brace for storm season after double hit of severe weather
IRVING (CBSNewsTexas.com) — North Texas families are once again picking up the pieces after severe weather hit the area for the second time in a week.
"I was driving from work, my wife had called me very scared. I was just trying to get here as soon as I could to protect my family," said Irving homeowner Emmanuel Esquivel.
Esquivel got a heart-stopping call from his wife on Thursday.
"She was crying and she was like, 'what do we do?'" said Esquivel.
The National Weather Service says two separate tornadoes touched down in Irving on Thursday. Both were EF-1 tornadoes with max wind speeds of 105 mph. A third EF-1 tornado touched down in Navarro County and injured two people in Corsicana.
"We heard this big hit by our window," said Jaylee Esquivel, the oldest child in the family. "We all got scared. We cleared out the closets. We all got in them."
Jaylee and and her mom rushed her six siblings into the closets for safety.
"It was scary but when you're the oldest, you have to stay strong for the little ones," said Jaylee.
When they came out, they saw that their neighbor's tree had toppled the fence, slamming into their storage shed and destroying their playground.
"It was crazy. I had never seen anything like that or been through anything like this," said Emmanuel.
The family is working with the insurance companies to find out what's covered. Emmanuel is grateful his family is safe.
"As long as the kids are fine, the family is good. Everything is replaceable," said Emmanuel.
As the Esquivels and other families work to recover from the recent storms, others are preparing for the weather that's yet to come.
Ariel and Kaelan Reyes just bought their home in February of 2022 so this tornado season, they're not taking any chances.
"It's the start of it, so who knows what could come since they just come out of nowhere," said Ariel.
On Wednesday they removed six trees from around their house after they had a close call in a storm a couple weeks ago.
"Half the tree was gone, and it probably missed my car by a couple feet," said Kaelan.
They want to be prepared the next time storms sweep through this area.
"You dont know what could happen with this weather," said Ariel.
