Many Texans are focused on cleanup, after devastating storms earlier this week. Tornadoes touched down in communities from the Oklahoma state line, all the way down to Central Texas. In Round Rock, winds from a tornado may have reached 135 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan told Texas Standard that despite heavy damage to parts of the city, there have been no confirmed deaths or serious injuries as a result of the tornado that struck Round Rock.
Damage mostly affected the south side of the city, Morgan said, near Dell Computer’s facility, and the area near I-45. Severe damage also occurred near the Kalahari resort, and a residential neighborhood in the northeast part of the city.
Morgan spent part of Wednesday helping with cleanup and talking to residents.
“I wanted to go out and speak to the citizens that were impacted,” Morgan said. “It was some amazing things that I was seeing.”
Morgan said neighbors helped one another, once volunteers were able to enter areas that were damaged.
Morgan says many Round Rock residents affected by the tornado will likely need financial assistance to help with expenses and insurance deductible costs.
“You don’t really think of needing a deductible a lot of times,” Morgan said. “You just pay your insurance. And some [deductibles] are upwards of $5,000.”
Morgan says the city is considering reactivating the Round Rock CARES program that helped small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city, Williamson County and the state of Texas have all filed disaster declarations related to Monday’s tornadoes, Morgan said.
