Sometimes there doesn’t have to be a reason why something happens. Just that for a miraculous moment, someone listens to that voice in their head. Call it God, call it fate – either way, for one Texas man listening to that voice saved lives.
Hugo Parra doesn’t know why he didn’t stop at the first, second, or even third gas station as he drove with his family. They were on their way to a quinceañera in Oklahoma City from Farmers Branch, Texas, when they received alarming news: a powerful tornado was heading their way. When Parra finally pulled into a Valley View, Texas, travel station, he somehow knew it was where he needed to be.
“Why this place?” Parra, a father of six, told reporters. “The only answer that I have is God sent me… to put everybody safely in the restrooms. I was meant to be there.”
Hugo Parra examines what is left of his car after a tornado struck. Photo courtesy of the Parra family
At 50 years old, Parra had never experienced a tornado in his 31 years living in Texas. He and his family — including his wife, two sons, pregnant daughter, and son-in-law — were driving north when his mother called, warning them about the looming tornado. Checking the radar confirmed their fears: it was heading straight for them.
When they reached the truck stop near Valley View, about an hour north of Dallas, the tornado was dangerously close. This tornado was part of a larger severe weather pattern that claimed more than 20 lives over the holiday weekend. Locally, the Cooke County Sheriff’s Office reported seven fatalities nearby, including four children and three adults.
Remarkably, no one at the Valley View truck stop was killed, largely thanks to Parra’s quick thinking. It’s estimated that around 60 people were in the building, which also housed a restaurant. Parra recalls seeing everyone in the restaurant and an employee advising them to move away from the glass windows. Feeling this wasn’t enough, Parra urgently directed everyone to take cover in the restrooms and a nearby corridor.
“What we heard was everyone get to the bathroom and that person’s voice gave everyone a specific spot to be and that person saved maybe 50-60 lives,” one man at the travel station told a local TV reporter.
Another man named Ricky also heard the voice say, “Get in the bathroom!”
When asked how he knew what to do, Parra said, “I watch TV. They say to find a small place to stay down because if you are in an open space, the tornado makes the circulation that takes everything.”
At left, Parra and his wife; at right, Parra’s destroyed car. Photo courtesy of the Parra family
The tornado wreaked havoc, ripping the travel stop apart. Parra’s 17-year-old son, Rafael, clung to him in the restroom, fearing they would be blown away. “We saw the glass flying away, the roof, then it was dark, dark, dark. You don’t see anything except the noise, like the 18-wheelers outside flying around,” Parra said.
“My son is hugging me hard because he was thinking the air was going to take me. The air wants to take everybody. But it doesn’t. It was a very long five or 10 minutes.” During the ordeal, Parra’s wife asked if he was afraid. He told her no, believing he needed to remain calm for everyone else.
“Everyone was crying, yelling and I say, ‘Calm down, calm down. Everything is going to be okay. Just relax,’” he recounted. “But you know, how are they going to relax when they see that big thing in their face?”
Once the tornado passed, the devastation was clear: vehicles were mangled, gas pumps destroyed, and the building barely standing. A firefighter approached Parra, almost in tears, marveling at their survival. Parra’s daughter, Cristal, who started a GoFundMe to help replace his car, wasn’t surprised by her dad’s heroism.
“He’s always the type of person to go where help is needed,” Cristal said. “He collects items for school and things and takes them back to his hometown in Durango, Mexico.” She expressed immense pride in her father, grateful she could take them home instead of picking up bodies.
