DEER PARK, Texas — Deer Park ISD will remain closed again Friday after a tornado damaged three campuses on Tuesday.
Those campuses remained without power on Thursday and many families have left the area because of damage and power outages. Meanwhile, Pasadena ISD will reopen all campuses on Friday except hard-hit Beverly Hills Intermediate on Beamer Road.
At Beverly Hills, clean up continued and the auditorium, hallways and gyms still needed drying out. Principal Stacey Barber said they heard the siren and had about two minutes to get 900 students to safety away from exteriors and glass windows.
It remains very emotional for her.
“Not that I would ever want to experience it again... but absolutely want to experience it with the team that I had," Barber said. "You’re just lucky.”
Outside the school, Barber estimated more than 100 staff vehicles were damaged. Row after row of vehicles had windows blown out and debris had shot through or pelted cars.
Even though schools in Deer Park remain closed, the district is offering free meals to children up to 18 years old on Friday as recovery efforts continue.
The district said curbside meals will be available at Carpenter Elementary and Deepwater Elementary starting at 8 a.m. Deer Park ISD said 1,000 meal kits will be packaged with breakfast and lunch together. They plan on serving them until they run out.
Meals will also be delivered by bus and remain and a few different stops for 30 to 45 minutes.
If you need another way to help, Deer Park High School choir is hosting a concert Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on campus. Tickets are $5 and the money will go to tornado victims.