Dash cam footage captures tornado damage, recovery efforts in Williamson County

Law enforcement catches tornadoes on dashcam, responds as quick as possible

Dashcam video caught destructive tornadoes in Central Texas just days ago. The footage also shows law enforcement officers picking up debris and searching for survivors.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Dash cam video captured the moments when a devastating tornado approached the eastern side of Williamson County last week.

"There’s a large rotation making it’s way I don’t know if you see it or not," said Precinct 4 Constable Paul Leal who can be overheard on the dash cam video.

"It just gave you the sense that something bad was about to happen, and you just feel helpless because you can do nothing to stop it," said Leal as he recalled the event.

Constable Leal along with his deputies were stationed throughout the area to monitor the storm.

"There was no way we could keep up with it. We did our very best to keep dispatch advised of its route the direction it was going and what had been hit," he said.

Within seconds of the tornados touchdown, the deputies were already out there assisting.

In the clip, you can see a deputy respond to a destroyed storage facility as he checked to see if anybody was stuck in the rubble. In another clip you can see a deputy move debris off the roadway.

The multiple sites of extensive devastation hit close to home for the constable.

FEMA assessing tornado damage in Williamson County

FEMA's goal is to try and get to every single home impacted. After that, the decision will be made on whether federal money will be used to help the survivors.

"My heart sank. I’ve been here my whole life. I know a lot of the people that live in this precinct. I’ve been in law enforcement on the east side of Williamson County for 25 years. This is where I went to high school. These are my classmates," said Leal.

Constable Leal said some of the challenges they faced during the storm was how they couldn’t use GPS. They instead had to rely on radio, knowledge of the area, and talk in person to figure out game plans.

With the storm long gone the effort to help the community are still going. Leal said every day since the storm they’ve been going out to the areas to check on survivors.

"It’s just People serving people. That’s all we are, just people serving people and as long as we remember to do that we’ll be ok," said Leal.

Despite the extensive damage, Constable leal is confident Williamson County will rebuild.

"Every time we have a crisis the Williamson County community we come together," he said.

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