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The Student News Site of St. Mark's School of Texas

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10600 Preston Road Dallas, Tx 75230
The Student News Site of St. Mark's School of Texas

ReMarker

The Student News Site of St. Mark's School of Texas

ReMarker

The evening of Oct. 20, 2019

The evening of Oct. 20, 2019 was shaping up to be a normal Sunday night. By 5 p.m., there was not a cloud in sight, with many people enjoying the beautiful weather before turning on the Cowboys vs. Eagles Sunday Night Football game. Everything was quiet on campus, with the night shift guard clocking in at 9 p.m. Even as the wind was picking up and clouds were gathering, most Dallasites were at ease, enjoying the peaceful last night of their weekend. No one could’ve predicted the mayhem that followed.

Jamie Rogers ‘85, Alumni association president and parent: It was a beautiful fall day, sunny, cool temperatures, great outdoor weather. That night, I had even grilled out and I wasn’t worried about the weather at all. I was watching the game in our bedroom and my younger son came and alerted me to a tornado warning. At first, I tried to shoo him away and say, ‘Thanks Robert, but it’s probably nothing,’ but he convinced me that it was potentially serious.

Jennifer Gordy, lower school instructor and parent: We actually got the warning from the TV. At that point, we just grabbed the dog and had everybody go downstairs, into the closet, and then within minutes, the neighborhood sirens were going off. It was just scary.

Rishab Siddamshetty, ‘23: Me, my brother and my family, we were all just sitting at the dinner table. I was talking to them about some new Boy Scout stuff. Then the lights started flickering, and my ears popped like we were in an airplane. My dad just said, ‘Run.’ He took us, he dragged our hands into the bathroom. The wind was howling, and we could barely hear anything.

Fraser Marcus, ‘72, Board President and parent: Nolan and I were camped in the living room watching the game, and our daughter came in towards the end of the first half to say that she had been on the phone with a friend of hers who lived a little bit further to the north of us who had heard tornado sirens and suggested that we might want to consider sheltering somewhere. And I said to her, ‘Well, you know, not really. Tornadoes never really come to the more populated parts of town. We’re probably in good shape.’ And then within about a minute or so, I looked out the window of our living room and saw that the sky was a very unusual color. So I sort of calmly suggested that she find her mom and our dog and that we would all gather in the kitchen. The sky was a completely different color, and I could see a lot of stuff moving around. I screamed, ‘Get into the pantry!’ We all did. As I closed the door to the pantry, I could feel the change in pressure, and then I heard exploding glass all through the house.

Charlie Gordy ‘25: I was in my room studying and all of a sudden my mom burst in screaming, so I picked up my dog, we got my brother, and we hid in the closet. Then my dad — he was trying to save the house from falling apart. He went up to the door and tried to hold it shut. Then a tree flew through it and demolished the door. It was really quick, which is the weird part. We were in there, like five minutes, and we stepped out and there was just rubble everywhere. My dad had a big shard of glass in his forehead. It was terrifying.

Rogers: In the immediate aftermath, not knowing what the damage was, we opened the pantry door, and there was water rushing in from the ceiling into the kitchen and glass all over the place. Of course, the power’s off. So we’ve got our phones acting like flashlights. Sort of in shock, and went back to the bedroom where I had just been a few minutes before, there was a big gaping hole in the ceiling and debris and stuff all over the bed, including bricks, because the chimney had fallen through the roof, through the ceiling onto the bed where I was, crushing the bed. If it weren’t for my son, this interview might not be happening.

Nolan Marcus ‘24: I went into my room, and there were leaves and branches. Wood from a window pane was scattered around the house. It was insane. All the windows were broken. You could feel the breeze shoot in throughout the house.