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The evening of the devastating Fort Worth, Texas tornado March 26, Sharon Scott, RN, walked outside the emergency room of John Peter Smith Hospital after her shift and saw the green sky and felt the utter stillness. "You just sense something," she said. "There is a calm. I just turned around and walked back in."

Scott, along with staff mobilized from other units, spent the rest of the night suturing wounds, cleaning abrasions, and removing shards of glass from the 30 patients who flooded John Peter Smith in the wake of the worst tornado to hit the city in 150 years.

The tornado, whose wind speed exceeded 150 mph, raged through the downtown, toppling trees, shattering glass buildings, and pelting the area with hail. Overall, the twister caused an estimated $450 to $500 million in damage to commercial and public buildings, ranking it among the most costly tornadoes in the state.

In comparison to property damage, the human toll was small. Five people died and 95 were injured by the tornado, which ranked 2.0 on the Fujita scale. Paul Weis, a paramedic with MedStar, transported a 19-year-old man who subsequently died after being struck in the head three times by hailstones the size of softballs. "You have to remember that these things weigh a couple of pounds and are flying at about 100 miles per hour," Weis said.

For part of the journey, Weis’ ambulance was chased by the tornado, which suddenly veered south and headed for downtown Fort Worth. "I was taking care of him," he said. "I’m glad I wasn’t driving."

Of those who died, one man was crushed inside a collapsed industrial building, another was killed by flying debris, and another man drowned when his car was swept into the Trinity River. Also presumed dead is the man’s grandmother, who was a passenger.

By the end of the night, some 50 people had been admitted to the city’s two trauma centers, John Peter Smith and Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. Elsewhere, the Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas treated 29 patients, mostly walk-ins, while Cook Children’s Hospital Medical Center treated three children for minor cuts and scrapes.

Officials stressed that the increased admissions did not overwhelm either the hospitals or the city’s emergency services. "We’re a public hospital," Drenda Witt, director of public information for John Peter Smith, said. "That’s what we do every day."

"It was like a very busy Friday night," Scott said.

Tornadoes are a regular part of life in Texas, which lies within the area known as "tornado alley," said Monte Oaks, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Texas. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and 800 injuries. A major portion of those tornadoes take place in Texas, Oaks said.

What was unusual about the Fort Worth tornado is that it took place in March, earlier than the typical tornado season, which runs from April to June with a second season from October to December. Then again, Oaks said, "You can pretty much get tornadoes in Texas year-round."

Unlike hospitals in California, which are under the legislative gun to do extensive retrofitting to protect patients in the event of an earthquake, Texas hospitals do not face a massive overhaul of their building codes, officials said. However, all hospitals are required to take precautions when tornado or high-wind warnings are in effect by moving patients away from windows and doors, Witt said.

What may be crossed off the list for downtown Fort Worth are the tall, gleaming, glass office buildings that ruptured into flying shards during the tornado. "The issue I keep hearing is, what are you doing with all glass exteriors in the middle of tornado alley," said Pat Svacina, assistant to the city manager. Most of the area’s hospitals, he said, are concrete or brick.

Besides examining building codes for downtown, officials are reviewing the city’s emergency response system to determine if the system needs tweaking, said J.J. Jones, medical liaison for the Office of Emergency Management.

"Overall, things went really well," Svacina said. "But we’re still in response mode."

In Scott’s opinion, the hardest part of the night was tending to the psychological devastation, which couldn’t be ameliorated with bandages and sutures. "Most of it was just helping people who were really frightened, and dealing with anxiety and grief," she said. "Some of these people lost their homes or businesses, or didn’t know what they would be going home to.

"It was the same for the nurses," she said. "They were wondering how their homes were doing. Everybody was comforting everybody."