Father of infant identified as man killed in tornado near South Padre Island

LAGUNA HEIGHTS, Texas — A 41-year-old man has been identified as the person killed when a tornado touched down in Laguna Heights Saturday morning.

Robert Flores, 41, died when an EF-1 tornado touched down in the community near Port Isabel and South Padre Island. The tornado touched down at 4 a.m. and injured 11 others, according to Cameron County officials.

The National Weather Service later classified it as an EF-1 tornado that potentially reached wind speeds of 110 mph, based on an initial damage assessment.

“We didn’t know what to say because we were in shock, we couldn’t believe that something like that happened,” Danial Martinez, Flores’ cousin, said.

She said their family was awake when the severe weather hit.

“We had a call, a group chat and in that group chat we saw that there were sirens and firefighters,” Martinez said.

Flores’ family said that a nearby trailer was lifted during the storm and landed on his home.

Flores was a father to a 6-month-old baby.

“You can see the path where it went through we have a lot of trailers that were damaged flipped over and destroyed,” said Tom Hushen, Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator.

Hushen told KENS 5 that up to 60 homes had been damaged or destroyed by the tornado. The tornado was only on the ground for two minutes, but Hushen said it still went across at least four different streets in a residential area before finally turning into the bay nearby.

“The streets are getting a little bit better, but you can still see the devastation that’s out there,” Hushen said.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. and a litany of local, regional and state agencies are assisting in the aftermath of the deadly weather event. The Port Isabel Event Center is being used to shelter people affected by the storm.