By CATHERINEDONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
It’s been eight and a half months, 34 weeks, or 234 days since an EF-1 tornado hit the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights according to the National Weather Service (NWS). This is how long some families have been without the safe use of their homes and, in some cases, living separately while their homes remained in disrepair due to lack of resources.
Jesse Rodriguez is the head of one of these families. Thanks to the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers, he will finally be reunited with his daughter and five grandchildren this weekend. Prior to the storm, they all lived together in his home.
While the community of approximately 1,800 residents slumbered at 4:06 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2023, a ‘perfect storm’ of weather conditions spawned a quick spin-up tornado before moving over Laguna Madre Bay and rapidly dissipating.
In the end, it was a mere two-minute touchdown with the path length of less than half a mile and only 200 yards wide, less than the length of two football fields, according to the NWS report. However, the diminutive size of the area affected belies the utter devastation to so many families in that community.
With winds of 85 to 105 mph, the storm tragically killed 42-year-old Roberto Flores when his home collapsed on him, and 11 others were injured, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities, according to multiple sources. Two victims sustained critical head injuries requiring extended hospitalizations.
The strongest portion of the tornado flattened at least six mobile home structures where most of the casualties were found. The storm also removed part of the second story of a local business and removed roof decking on at least ten other residences and buildings. Fences were knocked down, ash and mesquite trees were snapped or uprooted, and two wooden power poles were bent according to NWS.
Nearly 40 residents were displaced by the tornado and were immediately housed at the events center in the neighboring town of Port Isabel, with American Red Cross assistance, through May 13, 2023. The county stepped in and put a number of families up in hotels, where many of them are still staying eight months later.
Eventually, the county pulled together funds from several agencies, including the local Salvation Army, to try to solve the homelessness of the remaining families, which includes the generous volunteer work from the Mennonite Disaster Relief program, as outlined in previous stories in the PRESS.
Mennonites are Anabaptists, which is a faith stream within Christianity, according to the Mennoniteusa.org website. They live by focusing on Respect, peace and community service. Their disaster relief teams have been around for 75 years, making a significant and meaningful difference in towns and cities across the country, and occasionally beyond.
Rosie Zimmerman, from Kentucky, is part of a month-long crew who is working on roofing and other repairs and is on the crew repairing the Rodriguez home. There are also shorter-term volunteers who come for a week at a time.
Zimmerman grew up working in a repair shop and learning how to be handy from her father. She enjoys working outdoors and normally works in a nursery, where work is slow in the winter months, which frees her up to do disaster relief.
“When I come here and get to meet our clients, I can see how we’re giving them hope again for their future, and I wind up taking home far more than I give,” said Zimmerman. “We look for projects involving people who have fallen through the cracks just like the situation here in Laguna Heights.”
Their client, Rodriguez, is the 73-year-old head of his family. He has been separated from his daughter and five grandchildren, ages two to six years old, because the home was not deemed safe for them to continue to live in. With the bad roof and collapsed ceilings, mosquitoes feasted on Rodriquez each night in the temperate weather. He described having to sleep completely under the covers to try to avoid getting bit by them, missing his family, but knowing that they needed to live in a safer environment.
“I completely gave up hope about four months ago that I could ever get my home fixed by myself,” said Rodriquez. “The work these people are doing for us means the world to me and I should be reunited with my family this weekend. Rain is coming Saturday and Sunday, so it’s just in time.”
Zimmerman described how the 5-year-old, Aveya, was excited to help her paint the door.
“She said, I’ll paint the bottom but you need to paint the top because you’re older, bigger and smarter than me,” relayed Zimmerman with a laugh. “I don’t know if I agree with the last thing, but it was a delight to do the project with her.”
Daniel Brubacher, the head of the crew, is a residential construction worker and real estate agent from Canada and has been working in disaster relief for 11 years. At first, he started coming to disaster sites with friends to help out, but it wound up becoming a regular thing. He described how when the EF3 hit the Houston area last year, that the MDS team concentrated on the smaller towns outside of Houston like Rockport and LaGrange that don’t get the attention or funding that a larger city can.
“God has blessed me back home, and I believe through my Christian teachings that I need to pass this on to those less fortunate,” said Brubacher. “I’m down here for a few weeks, establishing relationships with people who have given up hope. As Christians, we know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, and in turn, we have to do what we can for our brothers and sisters.”
“Ya’ll came to me from Heaven,” interjected Rodriguez, smiling widely.
Carl Dube, Mennonite Disaster Service Project Director, says that he’s so very grateful that his teams can provide help and hope to families like Rodriguez, but he was very frustrated that they can’t do more because of some snafus involving building permits. He reportedly has a meeting with a building engineer who might be able to clear things up and get this hurdle cleared.
“In addition to the Rodriquez family and others that we’re able to help, we were supposed to build 2 or 3 brand new houses as well,” said Dube, another volunteer down here from Canada. “I have a very loaded and tight schedule of volunteers through the end of March to work on these new homes and we can’t even start because the permits are not coming together for us.”
Dube hopes to update us with good news regarding the permit situation in the near future. For now, the community is relieved for the families who are getting to go home again after nearly nine months of living in limbo. For information on how to replenish the Salvation Army’s disaster funds, please contact Julie Gaucin from the local office at (956) 459-2555.
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