FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Texas Baptists are mobilizing disaster relief teams to assist in the aftermath of a devastating tornado that tore through the heart of downtown Fort Worth, Texas, claiming at least three lives and causing millions of dollars in damage.
Officials at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, located approximately seven miles south of downtown Fort Worth, said no one was injured during the outbreak of severe weather and the campus was spared any damage.
That wasn’t the case in downtown, where the tornado caused what Lt. Gov. Rick Perry called “destruction on a fairly massive scale.”
The windows in most of the city’s skyscrapers were blown out by the winds of the storm and several buildings were destroyed, including the Calvary Cathedral International Church.
Downtown was closed March 29 to avoid further injuries from falling glass. Search-and-rescue teams conducted floor-by-floor searches for additional victims.
More than 100 Texans were reportedly injured in Fort Worth and Arlington, where the tornado destroyed more than 100 homes.
Bobby Cox, a spokesman for the Tarrant Baptist Association, said a team of 10 disaster relief volunteers has been dispatched to Arlington to assist in cleanup.
No Southern Baptist churches were damaged in the storm, Cox told Baptist Press.
