MATADOR—Fifteen people were injured and four killed in a tornado that swept through Motley County around 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, destroying homes in Matador and leaving 26 people displaced. Eight local businesses suffered significant damage and 61 properties were affected. Most of the town was left without electricity until Thursday night after the power substation was damaged, but 80 percent had been restored by Friday, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Jo Etta Bumgardner, an 85-year-old resident of Matador, was among those killed during the tornado. Randell (Randy) Rolin, 59, of Purcell, Okla., Victor Valenzuela, 43, of Austin but living in Abilene at the time, and Troy Hernandez, 23, of San Angelo also lost their lives in the storm while temporararily living in, or passing through, Matador on Wednesday.
Widespread destruction Storm chasers who had tracked the weather system and were on the scene during and after it posted photographs and videos of overturned vehicles, collapsed roofs, widely scattered debris, and livestock wandering the roadways.
Caprock Canyons State Park Officer Dawson Enloe was one of the first on the scene Wednesday night to help with rescue operations, arriving shortly after 8 p.m.
“There was still a lot of wind and rain,” said Enloe. “There was a bunch of houses that collapsed. We were able to help a guy who was trapped underneath a house. There was nothing left of the house, but we were able to hear a voice underneath the wreckage. He was in the cellar. We had to get the machines out to move the debris, but when we got to the door, he just walked right out. He was fine.”
The storm, a third of a mile wide, struck Matador’s west side around 8 p.m. with peak wind gusts of 145 to 165 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service preliminary report from June 24. Homes and businesses close to the busy intersection of coast-to-coast US Hwy. 70 and north-south Texas Hwy. 70. Among the structures destroyed were the circa 1914 Billie Dean’s Café, the recently built Dollar General store, and two houses, all on the south side of US 70. The storm also produced extremely large hail, with the largest stone measuring 4.5” in diameter on the east side of Matador. It cut a path nearly 10 miles long.
The same tornadic system went on to do significant damage in Girard, Jayton, Rotan and Hawley as it weaved on a southeasterly path through about 11 p.m.
According to the NWS report, “As the storm continued to move to the southsoutheast a broad rear flank downdraft was noted on radar with the peak measured gust of 109 mph at the West Texas mesonet site in Jayton at 10:07 p.m. with 19 minutes of continuous severe wind gusts. These strong winds also occurred with hail up to four inches in diameter,leadingtodamage observed along US Hwy. 70 in northeast Kent County, including in and around the towns of Girard and Jayton.”
Watches and warnings preceded direct hit A tornado watch had been posted for the area late Wednesday, and tornado warnings were shared.
Matador firefighter Rowdy Logsdon went to the scene where a semi truck was turned over along US 70. The driver had been asleep in the cab at the time the storm hit. Logsdon helped get him out of the vehicle. The driver was not hurt, though he said another semi driver was killed.
“He had a car hauler on there, and it flipped the car hauler and chucked it across the road,” Logsdon said.
Tim and Deana Washington and their grandchildren were unable to reach the outside door to their basement, so they hid in an interior bathroom. They became trapped under the rubble but managed to survive with only minor injuries.
Two of the three men killed had been living in an RV parked behind Billie Dean’s Motel. The motel itself was unoccupied at the time.
Panhandle Regional Advisory Council Emergency Medical Task Force 1 coordinator Rodney Hunt and Mitchell County EMS director Jason Gruben arrived in Matador Wednesday night.
Hunt said that their group organized the 9-1-1 calls to give local dispatchers a chance to check on their families and allow them to rest. “We managed that operation for them so they could check on their own homes,” he said. “We were here to let them get their station set up and get electricity back in so they could do what they needed to do.”
“We assembled a mobile medical task force. We coordinate with local entities to determine what resources they need. We help out the local EMS and provide with additional ambulances and extract teams,” Gruben added.
Responsefromneighbors Volunteers came in from Spur, Dickens, Roaring Springs, Crowell, McAdoo, Idalou, Lubbock and Muleshoe. Some came from as far as Waco, the Dallas– Fort Worth area and Tyler.
Harold Dempsey said plenty of food, water and equipment had been brought to the Motley County ISD bus barn, which had been set up as a centrall receiving and distribution point.. Turner said greatest need for the families in Matador will be monetary donations to the Matador Relief Fund, which can be made at any Happy State Bank branch.
Teary Blasingame and Ken Romine came Thursday morning from Dickens County (which also had been under tornado warnings from the same system) to make sure there was food for anyone who needed it. By that afternoon they had cooked 400 hot dogs, 300 sausages, 250 chicken breasts and 200 chicken legs.
Effects on businesses and residents David McKenzie said the Lowe’s grocery store was open by Thursday morning and the electricity was back on, though they lost all the frozen foods and dairy. He said he expected the store to be 100 percent stocked by noon Friday.
At the Hotel Matador, new owners Christian and Barbara Heim said the 109-year-old structure was not damaged, but they were just waiting out the heat until they could get power back on. Daytime temperatures in the area had been in the triple digits for several days, and power customers had earlier in the week been asked to reduce usage to avoid any interruption of service during peak demand times.
Joel Dean Spray lost his barnandshop.Theroofwas torn off Jeremy and Danika Jameson’s house. Kristin Clower lost her home, and the nearby Dollar General store was flattened. The Hop In and Allsup’s convenience stores, both at the main intersection, sustained significant damage. Broken windows and inoperable gas pumps were visible from the highway.
Billie Dean’s Restaurant and motel were left without the roofs and the brick front wall and windows were demolished, leaving the customer booths and an interior wall exposed.
“It’s been here forever. It’s crazy to see it like this,” said Kyla Simpson. The diner and motel had been established by, and named for, Smith’s mother, years ago. Mrs. Smith died in 2022 at age 93.
“It was something else. I’ve never seen anything like it. Billie Dean’s was an old place. You hate to see it gone,” said Lance Logsdon.
Weathering the storm Katie Wolf was on her way to Roaring Springs from Tulia with her mother Wednesday evening. She was taking the road through Matador when her plans suddenly changed.
“We got the tornado warning on my phone,” said Wolf. “We took shelter at a friend’s home just north of town to ride out the storm. If we had kept going, we would have been driving in the middle of it.”
Her husband, Steve Wolf, superintendent at Guthrie Common School District, and a former superintendent at Matador, was taking shelter in Guthrie at the time. The storm did not damage buildings or homes in Guthrie.
“We got very lucky,” said Katie Wolf.
On Thursday morning, she joined hundreds of other neighbors and friends in Matador to survey the damage and help pick up the pieces. She picked up a broken plaque among the wreckage at the home of Ken and Mary Marshall just south of the intersection at Highway 70 where the town’s two gas stations were hit. She said Matador’s ag teacher, Mr. Cooper, was also working to assess the damage to his home, which was later reported on social media to have been destroyed. The Marshalls’ home was completely destroyed.
“This was my parents’ house,” said Brian Marshall. “It was built in ’87.”
Brian Marshall watched as household items were collected nearby.
The Marshalls’ niece, Tammy Simpson, was in Matador at the time of the tornado. She hid in the cellar of her own home.
“It was very scary,” said Kyla Simpson, who also hid in the cellar. Both were unharmed.
It was not the first time Tammy Simpson had such a harrowing experience. She was also in Matador during a tornado when she was only 14 years old.
Marisue Potts Etheredge was several miles west of town at her Mott Creek Ranch when the tornado hit. The ranch was fine, so she drove into Matador that night to find out how she could help her friends. She, too, remembers the tornado that came through Matador in 1984.
“We didn’t have cell phones or the same kind of access to information. I sent my kids to school the next day because I didn’t know the school was gone. It had blown away. The difference is that this time people were watching it live,” said Etheridge.
Glouris Long and Ann Hicks helped to load the Marshalls’ belongings into a trailer Thursday. Both graduated from high school in Matador in 1979 and it is their hometown.
“My mother is here, and she made it safe. I wanted to help the others in the community,” Hicks said.
Long said her brother and sister still live in Matador. “This is where we were raised and it’s always been home, so we wanted to be here to help our friends,” she said.
Future needs and rebuilding
By early Friday, local relief organizers were spreading the word that no more bottled water or household goods were needed—but cash urgently was. Monetary donations, local officials explained, would help residents pay bills, pump gas and buy groceries while they consider next steps.
And the dollars and moral support are pouring in. Less than a week after the longest summer solstice day they’ll never forget, Matador residents have benefited by community funds set up at Happy State Bank and the First National Bank of Quitaque, as well as on Go-FundMe. Tens of thousands have been raised already to rebuild Jim and Judy Cooper’s house—as just one example.
“There’s no way the Washingtons [Tim and Deana] should have survived this tornado . . . but God,” posted family friend Whitney Fuston on Facebook. “They were IN their home when it was leveled by the storm. They were dug out and saved. They are ALIVE!”
Barbara Anderson, Barbara Brannon, Kay Ellington and Meagan Hammack also contributed to this story.
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