In the dim light of the half moon last night the town had the appearance of a shell swept village in the war torn area of Northern France. Two thirds of the houses had been razed to the ground. In the rubbish of many of the buildings fires had started to complete the work of the heavy hailstorm and then by a downpour of rain and all of the electric wires of the town had been swept out so that there were no lights except those from the fires and from lanterns and electric torches of relief workers.
Many citizens of McKinney saw the funnel shaped storm cloud and news was soon received that Melissa had been swept away. Relief parties were quickly made up and several physicians rushed to the scene of the cyclone. The two ambulances from McKinney made repeated trips back and forth bringing injured to the new hospital in McKinney, which was opened only April 1. Within a short time after the storm probably 1,000 persons from the surrounding country gathered at McKinney to aid relief work,. In many cases injured persons were found pinned under buildings and had to be extricated.
All telephone and telegraph wires out of Melissa were swept down, the interurban and railroad tracks torn up by the storm and debris hurled upon them. The grain elevator was blown directly across the railroad track and more than a dozen-loaded freight cars of the two trains which were station at the time were overturned.
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