A single supercell thunderstorm carved a path across Wise and Parker counties on April 25, 2026, spinning up two confirmed tornadoes that killed two people, injured at least 11 others, and left rural communities north and west of Fort Worth facing weeks of cleanup. The twisters were part of a broader severe weather outbreak that hammered North and Central Texas from April 24 through April 29, generating 287 storm reports and 111 warnings across the region, according to the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth.
Now, with debris still lining roads and damaged roofs covered in tarps, state leaders have declared a disaster for Wise, Parker, and Lamar counties, and Texas has asked the Small Business Administration to unlock federal loan programs for residents and business owners trying to piece things back together.
Two tornadoes, one storm
The supercell that formed on the afternoon of April 25 tracked southeast through Wise County before crossing into Parker County. A damage survey conducted by National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed that the storm produced an EF-2 tornado near Runaway Bay, a small lakeside community of roughly 1,500 people along the shores of Lake Bridgeport in Wise County. The same storm spawned an EF-1 tornado near Springtown, a town of about 3,200 in western Parker County.
An EF-2 rating means estimated wind speeds between 111 and 135 mph, strong enough to tear roofs from well-built homes and snap large trees. The EF-1 near Springtown carried winds between 86 and 110 mph. Both ratings were assigned after NWS teams walked the damage paths and evaluated structural failures against the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
The NWS event summary confirms two fatalities and at least 11 injuries during the full April 24 to April 29 period, but public documents have not yet identified the victims by name, age, or precise location. The causes of death have also not been specified in the federal record.
Disaster declarations and the push for federal aid
Within days of the tornadoes, the governor’s office issued a disaster proclamation citing “widespread and severe property damage, injury, or loss of life” in Lamar, Parker, and Wise counties. The Texas Division of Emergency Management confirmed that the declaration activated state resources, including the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Transportation, to support local response operations.
Parker County’s storm recovery update outlines the steps residents should take now: report property damage through the state’s iSTAT tool at damage.tdem.texas.gov, follow county guidance on debris removal, and connect with volunteer coordination efforts. Those individual damage reports feed directly into the state’s case for federal assistance.
The governor’s office has formally requested an SBA disaster declaration for Parker and Wise counties and their contiguous neighbors. That request leans on joint damage surveys and iSTAT data to argue that the two counties meet federal thresholds for low-interest disaster loans. If the SBA approves, homeowners, renters, and business owners in the affected area would become eligible to apply for loans to cover repair costs and losses not covered by insurance.
As of late May 2026, the SBA has not publicly announced whether it has granted or denied the request.
What residents still don’t know
For people in Wise and Parker counties trying to plan their next steps, several important questions remain unanswered in the public record.
No government source has released a count of how many homes, businesses, or public buildings were damaged or destroyed by the two tornadoes. The NWS damage survey assigns EF ratings based on the worst observed damage along a tornado’s path, but it does not catalog every affected structure. Without that number, residents have no way to gauge how their losses compare to the broader picture or how much total aid the region might need.
Dollar estimates for insured and uninsured losses have not appeared in any state or federal document reviewed. The disaster proclamation, the TDEM release, and the SBA request all describe severe damage in general terms but stop short of attaching a price tag. Insurance industry loss estimates, which sometimes take weeks or months to compile, have not yet been published for this event.
The timeline for federal action is also unclear. The SBA disaster loan request is pending, and there is no public indication of when a decision will come. Residents who have filed iSTAT reports have not been told how quickly those submissions are being processed or when they might hear back about eligibility for assistance.
Where the recovery stands in Wise and Parker counties
The communities hit hardest by the April 25 tornadoes are small, tight-knit, and largely rural. Runaway Bay sits along the western shore of Lake Bridgeport, a popular fishing and boating destination about 60 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Springtown, roughly 35 miles west of Fort Worth, anchors a stretch of ranch land and small farms in Parker County. Neither town has the tax base or municipal infrastructure of a major city, which makes outside aid critical.
Parker County officials have urged residents to document all damage with photographs and to file iSTAT reports even if they have insurance, because the volume of reports helps determine whether federal thresholds are met. Volunteer groups have begun organizing cleanup efforts, though the county has asked people to coordinate through official channels rather than showing up independently.
The broader outbreak that stretched from April 24 through April 29 also affected areas beyond Wise and Parker counties. Lamar County, in the far northeast corner of Texas, was included in the governor’s disaster proclamation, and the NWS logged severe weather reports across a wide swath of North and Central Texas during the six-day period. But the two confirmed tornadoes on April 25, tracked by a single supercell, remain the most destructive individual events documented in the outbreak so far.
For residents in Runaway Bay and Springtown, the wait for answers about federal loans, final damage tallies, and long-term rebuilding support is just beginning. The storms lasted minutes. The recovery will take much longer.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
