One dead, dozens hurt as tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma

POWDERLY, Texas (AP) — Residents in northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma began assessing weather damage Saturday, working to recover and thankful to have survived after tornadoes tore through the region, killing at least one, injuring others, and leaving homes and buildings in ruins.

Shelbie Villalpando, 27, of Powderly, Texas, said she was eating dinner with her family Friday when tornado sirens prompted them to congregate first in their rented home's hallways, then with her children, aged 5, 10, and 14, in the bathtub.

“Within two minutes of getting them in the bathtub, we had to lay over the kids because everything started going crazy,” Villalpando said.

“I've never been so terrified,” she said.

“I could hear glass breaking and things shattering around, but whenever I got out of the bathroom, my heart and my stomach sank because I have kids and it could have been much worse. ... What if our bathroom had caved in just like everything else? We wouldn't be here.”

Terimaine Davis and his son were huddled in the bathtub until just before the tornado barrelled through Friday, reducing their home in Powderly to a roofless, sagging heap.

“We left like five minutes before the tornado actually hit,” Davis, 33, told The Associated Press.

“Me and my son were in the house in the tub and that was about the only thing left standing.”

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