Canton, Texas Reels from Weekend Tornadoes

Area responders, volunteers flooded relief centers set up Saturday, April 29, and the following Sunday in Canton after severe storms ripped through rural East Texas.

Four tornadoes confirmed by The National Weather Service touched down, leaving four dead and two previously missing persons found, according to a statement made by Canton mayor Lou Ann Everett to local news affiliates Monday morning.

The first tornado touched down with a brief track about 4:15 p.m. by Grand Saline. Two Canton-area tornadoes followed around 5:10 and 5:29 p.m., the latter moving along a longer track until 6:09 p.m. The fourth tornado, also traveling through Canton, hit other areas of Henderson and Van Zandt counties, lasting from 5:41 to 7:28 p.m., which the NWS determined to have traveled roughly 51 miles.

As of Monday, the four confirmed victims from Saturday’s storms have been identified as: Russell Rusty Barlow, 51, of Canton; Kenneth Hughes, 57, or Van Zandt County; Lucretia Sykes, 49, of Fort Worth; and James Clayton Young, 39, of Alba.

Reporting and photography by Brian Maschino