Hughes Springs weathers the storm

November 4 started out just like any other fall day in Hughes Springs, Texas. With the Thanksgiving Holiday looming, many folks were getting prepared for large family meals with extended family, while some others had just begun early holiday shopping.

Unfortunately for the east Texas town of close to 1,600, a cruel tempest was also looming and only just beginning to take on a menacing form for an ultimately brutish touchdown in the heart of town.

Categorized as a two on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, or EF2–meaning the tornado’s intensity could produce winds from 111-135 miles per hour–the roaring squall winded it’s way throughout northeast Texas, eventually finding it’s target in the quaint small town on the southwestern corner of Cass County.

Starting with a deluge of rain and heavy winds, alarms suddenly began sounding off when it became clear that the tornado’s arrival was imminent. Mothers, rocking their little ones to sleep quickly made their way to hallways and bathtubs; Parents covered their children with blankets and mattresses and tried to keep them calm as the screeching whirlwind mercilessly chugged through like an angry locomotive.

By late evening, the town’s volunteer fire station was a total loss. A labyrinth of trees pulled up by their roots encircled city hall and the park on East Main Street.

Truly, it was a haphazard maze of destruction and debris, with downed and twisted power lines—homes and vehicles significantly damaged or totaled.

The early dawn on November 5 saw the sun rise and shed light on the totality of mayhem caused by the beastly storm. The lovely sunrise stood out paradoxically as the light from the early fall morning shimmered upon sheer destruction.

Near the debris of what once was the fire station, Hughes Springs Fire Chief Jay Cates could be seen somberly accessing damages, with a look of hopeless devastation on his face.

Almost two months on, Cates and other community members are finally starting to see the actual bright side, as things begin to look less bleak. The resourceful town banded together quickly. establishing accord in the chaos.

Though Cates said nothing comes easy with a storm like this, he has been amazed at how the community has united in times such as these.

“As far as our community coming together, we couldn’t ask for anything better,” Cates said. “All neighboring fire departments have donated or loaned to help with equipment lost or damaged.”

The storm left Hughes Springs Volunteer Fire Department two trucks in operating order–a grass truck and a tanker. Avinger reached out and loaned the department a pumper, while theee of the damaged department trucks are still in Longview for repair.

As snow flurries started to fall Thursday afternoon, and temperatures began to rapidly dip, Cates made a coordinated effort with locals to get the tanker and grass truck out of the unsuitable winter weather.

“With the weather that’s coming in now, I’ve been looking for a place to store the trucks,” Cates said. Stephen McKinney offered up a bay at the Westmoreland Storage Facility to stash the two trucks for a couple days. If water were to freeze in one of the water pumps, Cates said it would cost them roughly $10 grand in damages.

The pumper on loan from Aviger is stored in the temporary, make-shift fire station just next door to where the old one stood firmly a mere seven weeks ago. Unfortunately, this building can only store one fire engine.

“We’re thankful to have this place…now we are right next door to where we were,” Cates said. “We have an office, kitchen…all of that. It’s a very nice building, formerly used by the ambulance service (EMS).’

Ideally, Cates said he’d love for them to have something like a double RV shed that folds in to keep the two other vehicles in closer proximity to the building they are utilizing until their fire department gets rebuilt. The RV shed would have to be about 30 feet long, with walls and a door to keep out unsavory weather conditions.

“I went down to the Humble Fire Department in Humble, Texas and they donated just a ton of equipment to us, it was a lot of equipment,” Cates said. “All neighboring fire departments helped us out, of course Avinger loaned us the pumper, but New Diana, Talco and others have helped us and we’d like to express how thankful we are to them all for their help.”

“I believe we are going to rebuild a station even better than the one we had before,” Cates said, adding that, though much of the community experienced massive property damage, he was both thankful and amazed that there were no casualties in the immediate area.

One thing that had really shook Cates–and many others–was that one of their own firemen was actually inside the fire station as it was ravaged and torn apart by the menacing whirlwinds. The firefighter and a station dog rode out the storm by taking cover under a fire engine together.

Both came out unscathed. “We are very, very blessed no one was killed,” Cates said. “It’s a wonder that no one here was killed or seriously injure Police Chief Randy Kennedy echoed Cates’ sentiments.

“We are working closely with our insurance and there is a plan in place where we can get a new department built,” Kennedy said, of the station. “From my understanding, it’s called a turn-key project in which the insurance company would be responsible for contracting the companies to build a new fire department.”

Kennedy said they are trying to salvage parts of the fire station slab to utilize in rebuilding.

“Whenever they get through with rebuild infrastructure, the insurance company will turn the keys of the building back over to the city and we’ll have a new fire station.”

The men approximated it would take about a year before the project would be completed in full.

A cheerful, quaint town full of friendly faces, a lot of the residents of Hughes Springs descend from very resourceful, hardy folks. The town, just a mile from the Morris county line, first had a cabin built on the land in 1839 by a man named Reese Hughes. Hughes built his cabin near three mineral springs. First dubbed ‘Chalybeate Springs’ according to Texas Almanac, the settlement soon came to be known as Hughes Springs.

It was when the East Line and Red River Railroad was built through the area in 1876 that the settlement began to grow. Hughes Springs became a station on the line and by 1878, a post office was established. Since the foremost attraction of the area was the mineral or chalybeate springs, which were considered medicinal, Hughes Springs became known as a popular health resort—which seems to explain a lot of the Oh town’s whimsical charm.

Hughes Springs’ reputation as a shipping and supply point for area farmers made it a spot for great trade as well, but the 1884 saw and grist mills, as well as cotton gins seem to speak to the resilience of the area’s people, their earnestness and penchant for hard work. The many people there today are descendents of blue collar sawmill or cotton gin operators, farmers, and/or railroaders and roughnecks (oil field hands). Though amicable, these are tough folk; they’re not ones to back down easily but are certainly ready and willing to help their neighbors out of in jam.

Brittany Gonzales-Jones, began her job with the Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce just three months before the disaster hit in early November. However she and the chamber, along with city officials and volunteers quickly kicked into high gear in getting to work in helping with cleanup of debris and finding shelter and homes for families who were displaced. Some families were placed in rent houses in neighboring Daingerfield.

“A few of the churches offered up their parsonages,” Gonzales-Jones said. “First Baptist Church posted lunches daily. I know two times Pilgrims (Pride) came in and hosted to serve chicken all just in the week and a half following the tornado.”

Latter Day Saints came down to help out with different groups, she said, and Assembly of God opened their doors seven days a week for those in need of staple items, including tarps and first aid kids.

“They all opened their doors so that people could come in and get those resources needed,” she said.

As a non-profit organization, the chamber was able to establish a donation account with funds available to those in need.

“Anything that is donated will be used to hand out to those affected in the Hughes Springs area zip code,” Gonzales-Jones said.

The account is First National Bank of Hughes Springs Disaster Relief Fund for those who would like to donate.

“As previously posted, help for our November tornado victims is on the way here,” Gonzales-Jones posted to the HSCOC Facebook page. “We mentioned there was a donation account set up for those who wanted to give monetary donations, as well as a committee that was put together to oversee incoming applications requesting those funds.”

“If you would like to request a three-page application and submit requests for funds to help with tornado damages, please email hsdrelief9@gmail. com or pick one up from City Hall.”

Deadline for those applying for the assistive funds is Feb 28, 2023.

Brookshires, as well as the chamber’s annual Holiday on First Street were able to donate funds to the account and Gozales-Jones said she believed the local Dixie League had discussed donating, as well.

Gonzales-Jones said she is proud of how her community has come together to help one another, literally weathering the storm together. Full Throttle Fitness recently held a Bench off fundraiser for the fire department, for example.

“The city has been helping as needed going out to help residents,” she said “My husband (Rock Jones) works for the city and the next day they went straight to work getting things in order and helping people.”

The tornado hit just days before the chamber’s annual event, Holiday on First Street, which is held the Monday before Thanksgiving.

“The town still came together and it was really nice to see people out and about,” Gonzales-Jones said.

The same went for Cork and Fork, Hughes Springs’ annual Christmas lighting. Normally it would be held at the park on East First Street, but the park was heavily hit with debris and damage.

“The chamber talked to the city manager, who was very much in favor of pushing forward and keeping with the holiday spirit, so we pushed it to another area park and had the lighting at the pavilion,” Gonzales-Jones said. “There was a moving outpour of citizens, city and committee members— we didn’t let this slow us down at all.”

Gonzales-Jones said she was just three houses down from where the tornado hit in town with her family. She said she quickly got herself and her kids in the bathtub and remembered that she had actually left the bathroom window open.

“I remember hearing the sirens go off the first time but not the second, when it hit,” Gonzales-Jones said. “Because the window was up … everything sucked out and it was silent…and then it blew in.”

It was the calm just before and the air sucking out of the room that she found most eerie and said she would never forget it.

“We, and a lot of others were very blessed,” she said “I’m very thankful no one was injured or worse in Hughes Springs, though, sadly, there was at least one (casualty) in East Texas.”

For more information on how you can help, or how to access funds if you’re in need, contact the Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce by the email mentioned above, message the chamber’s Facebook page, or call them at 903-639-2351.

Funds can be accessed to pay for gas to pick up debris, fix shattered windshields, and many more needs, according to HSCOC.

Gonzales-Jones said David Thompson was appointed to oversee debris cleanup in the Hughes Springs and Daingerfield areas. Thompson told her that there is still a phenomenal amount of debris– even still. Volunteers have picked up piles and piles of debris but are still searching for a solution on where to put the piles.

“They’ve been picking up tons of debris, but there’s just nowhere to put the piles of debris,” Gonzalez Jones said. “So, we may be short on places to move all this debris, but one thing we aren’t short on is volunteers.”

Small east Texas towns like Hughes Springs, who know how to come together during tough times are rarely, if ever, short on volunteers.