Cleanup continues after Jarrell tornado with help from community

Jarrell Mayor Larry Bush said people flocked to volunteer and help pick up the debris from people’s homes.

JARRELL, Texas — As soon as a tornado hit Jarrell on Monday, Jedith Johnson looked for a safe place to hide.

“So I took my mother’s wheelchair before anything even happened, and I put it in the closet. I moved everything away, so that we could all get in there, my husband and I, the two dogs and my mother,” said Johnson.

In what was a matter of seconds, Johnson said her property was destroyed.

“My little shed – smashed. I lost half the roof on that one, and half the roof on the other one, and the shop doors,” said Johnson.

But none of it compared to her loss in the 1997 tornado that struck Jarrell.

“Two children of neighbors, and their mother, and two boys and the mother and father, all passed, they got swept away.”

But that doesn’t mean Monday’s tornado didn’t leave its mark. Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said many homes and several businesses were affected.

“We have in our initial assessment, 23 homes that were in some way affected here. As well as four businesses that have suffered some damages,” he said.

Jarrell Mayor Larry Bush said people flocked to volunteer and help pick up the debris from people’s homes.

“The call was put out for volunteers to come out and this morning we had as many people as we could possibly use,” he said.

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