Bishop Ricky Sinclair Sends His Prayers to Texas Tornado Victims

BAKER, La. - May 16, 2013 - PRLog -- The National Weather Service said that as many as 10 tornadoes may have struck towns south of Fort Worth beginning Wednesday evening. A precise count was to be made available later Thursday, the weather service said.

Granbury, about 35 miles southwest of Fort Worth, was the hardest hit area, accounting for the vast majority of the dead and injured, said Sheriff Roger Deeds of Hood County. Names of the victims have not yet been released, but the six confirmed dead were all adults, officials said.

In Rancho Brazos, a subdivision a few miles southeast of Granbury, more than half the homes were flattened, had roofs torn off or walls knocked down, or were simply torn from foundations, officials said.

“Most all of that is heavily damaged to totally destroyed,” Sheriff Deeds said Thursday at a news conference. “It’s definitely a nightmare.”

Steve Berry, a Hood County commissioner who worked as a firefighter for 23 years, said that during a tour of the neighborhood of modular, mobile and wood-frame homes, he had witnessed “total devastation.”

He estimated that more than 100 homes had been damaged.

Many houses in the subdivision, had been built in recent years by Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Berry said the houses had been tossed around so violently that they now looked “like Tinkertoys.”

At sunrise on Thursday, teams of fire crews aided by bulldozers and other heavy equipment began picking through rubble to determine if anyone was trapped, while electric crews worked to restore power.

A few hours later, Wayne McKethan, the city manager, said that all the survivors had been found with the aid of dogs.

Access to the area was restricted Thursday because propane tanks had not been secured and wreckage had not been cleared. Among the damage, Mr. Berry said, was a water tower that “imploded.”

Bits of sheet metal hung from power lines and wrapped around trees, some of which had been stripped of leaves and branches so that they resembled toothpicks.

Mr. Berry said that he had believed that the severe weather had bypassed Granbury without causing significant damage when “the storm seemed to pass and back up on top of us.”

On Thursday morning, Kyle McCombs, an emergency room physician at the Lake Granbury Medical Center, where he is also chief of staff, was sitting in his Chevrolet Suburban as he waited for a street to be reopened near the Rancho Brazos neighborhood. The police had blocked roads in the area because of downed power lines.
“We had serious, major trauma, and a lot of it,” said Dr. McCombs, 47. “For a hospital of our size, we’ve never seen a mass trauma event like this.”
The emergency room typically sees as many as 65 people a day, he said, but on Wednesday night, “we were more than half that all at once.”

Dr. McCombs said patients had come with a broad range of injuries, including severe lacerations and spinal and skull fractures.

He said many staff members had come in “off duty to assist. That’s what really saved us.”

He added, “We all just started divvying up patients.”

About a dozen people with more serious injuries were transferred to hospital trauma centers in Fort Worth, he said. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/us/texas-storm/index.html?h...

Bishop Ricky Sinclair sends his prayers to the victims of the Texas tornadoes.” It is horrible to hear about such a devastating occurrence. I send my prayers of peace and comfort to the families of those that lost a love one and to those who have lost everything in these storms. I pray that you can still find peace and comfort in the middle of devastation. God is always faithful and always has a plan even when we may not understand. Miracle Place Church is lifting you up in prayer to the all mighty God.”

Ricky Sinclair (http://www.rickysinclair.com) is the bishop of Miracle Place Church. (http://www.miracleplacechurch.org) A religious organization that provides a long list of services to the community, Miracle Place Church is cherished by its congregation and the many individuals whom they impact. Ricky Sinclair provides strong leadership to the members of the church, teaching them how to honor God and serve others while improving their relationships with Christ. Through his work, Ricky Sinclair has enhanced the lives of countless individuals, as he has assisted them in developing their spirituality and serving their Lord.