Elgin man released from hospital after suffering leg injury from tornado

ELGIN, Texas - An Elgin man is recovering after surviving the tornado that ripped through his mobile home, leaving him with a leg injury. 

Angel Soto was released from the hospital Thursday. He's now recovering in a family member's home. 

FOX 7 sat down to speak with Soto. His cousin, Gabriel Torres, translated for him.

"He feels okay, but still in a lot of pain, he's having trouble walking, but a lot of pain," Torres said.

When the storm came, Soto and some of his coworkers were trying to get out of the room they were in. 

"What he remembers was too much wind, a lot of power, when they decided to start getting some of the things to get out... they fell into the debris, when the tornado actually hit the mobile home, and by the time he realized he was already in the ground with a whole bunch of debris, and maybe even walls on top of him," Torres said.

At first, Soto didn't even realize his leg was cut so badly.

"The only thing that came to his mind was to see if the other people were okay, he didn't realize he had the cut until he took maybe two three steps, but before that he was making sure that his other coworkers were safe," Torres said.

Other coworkers only had minor cuts. 

"By the time [Soto] realized he had the cut, he started feeling chills, started getting cold, he started getting nervous, that's when he noticed he was losing a lot of blood," Torres said.

Soto was taken to the hospital where he stayed for four days. He's still struggling to walk but is glad the situation wasn't any worse.

"That thing that it was, he noticed there was just a whole bunch of debris, he's glad that nothing went above the waist, God forbid, it could've happened stomach, chest, or something, whatever that caused that could've happened elsewhere, more dangerous maybe," Torres said. "It's all about the fast, speedy recovery now moving forward, but he'll be okay."

Soto, who has never experienced a tornado before, hopes that was the first and last time. 

"Hopefully, it'll be the last tornado he experiences. He just thanks God that him, along with coworkers, are safe and alive to be able to tell the story like this," Torres said.

If you would like to help Soto with medical expenses and replacing his belongings, click here for his GoFundMe page.

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