Tornado at the Ranch

Trampoline+blown+into+tree.

Reid Pitts

Trampoline blown into tree.

By Sheridan Smith, Staff Writer

As many fellow George Ranch students know, on Valentine’s Day, there was a tornado in the area. It occurred around 8:30 am affecting Fort Bend county the most. Bridlewood received the worst of the storm in our area, and it caused fences to fall down and the destruction of yards and homes.

Aly Lopez said,”The storm didn’t really have a strong impact on my house or family, but I do feel for the people who suffered loss from yesterday.”

George Ranch was also affected by their power going out and having the school proceed with shelter in place. Multiple students feared the storm so much, that they turned around and went back home after already leaving for school. Other individuals were affected on the way to school and at home.

Mia Gonzalez said,”It affected me on my way to school when we were by Bridlewood when the tornado hit, and it shattered the back window all over us. The car started to tip, and we couldn’t see anything and debris was flying everywhere. I had to duck down on the floor of the car, so I didn’t get hit by anything.”

Students were greatly affected by the storm, and they all have expressed their feelings about how the school handled it. Many students say they couldn’t have known that is was going to be this extreme, and others say that they should have monitored the media more diligently.

“I think the school should have known about this and delayed school because we have a lot of student drivers and bad traffic so being stuck in the tornado risked a lot of people’s lives,” Mia Gonzalez said.

The unfortunate thing about tornadoes is that they are hard to predict.  There was no way to know that the school was in the path of a tornado, and by the time the school did know it was too late to contact people.  If we learned anything from this experience it is that people need to be monitoring the weather themselves when a storm is pending and make their own decisions about venturing out.

Either way, neighborhoods and people were affected by this storm, and George Ranch sends out their blessings to all of those affected.