Texas Task Force 1 conducts search following East Texas tornadoes

COLLEGE STATION – Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) was activated by the Texas Division of Emergency Management on April 30 after severe weather spawned eight tornadoes that cut a destructive swath across East Texas on April 29. Four people were killed, and 56 injured were transported by local EMS.

TX-TF1 worked with response partners to support and assist local responders, and searched 700 structures for tornado victims near the Canton area in Van Zandt and Rains counties.

Overall, TX-TF1 deployed 80 personnel. In addition, two Agency Liaison Officers (LNOs) served in the State Operations Center in Austin and one ESF-9 Liaison supported local jurisdictions.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in Van Zandt, Rains and Henderson counties on May 1. 

The team demobilized its final resources on May 2 after completing the search of the area. 

TX-TF1 is sponsored by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) and has deployed over 100 times since 1997, including the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, Sept. 11th World Trade Center attack, and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike. TX-TF1 can be activated by the Texas Division of Emergency Management or as one of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 28 sanctioned urban search and rescue teams. 

Visit the Texas Task Force 1 Website: www.texastaskforce1.org/ 

Find Deployment Briefs of previous deployments.

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