Photo: Elias Valverde II Associated Press A gas station and several cars were damaged by a tornado on Sunday in the small community of Vally View, Texas.
Acacia Coronado – Associated Press at Valley View
Posted at 2:46 p.m.
- United States
Powerful storms killed at least 11 people and left significant damage Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The storms wiped out homes and destroyed a truck stop where drivers had sheltered during the deadly weather that hit the central United States.
Seven deaths were reported in Cooke County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado swept through a rural area near a mobile home park Saturday evening, officials said.
Storms also caused damage in Oklahoma, where guests at an outdoor wedding were injured.
Tens of thousands of residents were deprived of electricity throughout the region.
The dead included two children, ages two and five, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said. The storms also destroyed a nearby truck stop where at least 60 people had rushed to seek shelter. Ray Sappington reported that there were no serious injuries.
The Texas deaths included three members of a family who were found in a home near in the small community of Valley View, Sappington said.
Authorities said several people were transported to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in the county of Denton, Texas, but that they did not immediately know the extent of the injuries.
“All that remains is a trail of debris. The devastation is pretty bad,” Sheriff Sappington told the Associated Press.
Situation is evolving in Arkansas and Oklahoma
At least two people have been reported killed in Arkansas, including a 26-year-old woman who was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, according to Daniel Bolen of the county's office of emergency management.
Another person has died in this same Arkansas county. Melody Kwok, the county's communications director, said several other people were injured and emergency responders were still responding to calls.
“We are still in search and rescue right now, she said. This is a rapidly evolving situation. »
Authorities also confirmed two deaths in Mayes County, Oklahoma. Details about the casualties were not immediately available, said Mike Dunham, deputy director of emergency management for the county.
The damage continued during a dark month marked by deadly weather in the central part of the country.
The tornadoes that hit Iowa this week left at least five dead and dozens injured. These deadly tornadoes appeared during a historically bad season for tornadoes, at a time when climate change is contributing to the severity of storms around the world.
Authorities recorded the second highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in the country in April.
The extent of the damage noted
In Texas, a tornado ripped through Denton County, north of Dallas, overturning tractor-trailers and halting traffic on Highway 35, according to Gate -speaker Dawn Cobb. A shelter has been opened in the rural town of Sanger.
Aerial footage showed dozens of damaged homes, many without roofs and others reduced to rubble.
Residents woke up to overturned cars and garages collapsed. Some residents could be seen pacing and sorting through pieces of wood, assessing the damage. Nearby, neighbors sat on the foundation of a destroyed home.
At the height of the storms, more than 24,000 homes and businesses lost power in Oklahoma, according to the state's Office of Emergency Management. The bureau also reports extensive damage from baseball-sized hail and multiple injuries at an outdoor wedding in rural Woods County.
Meteorologists and authorities issued emergency alerts for citizens to take shelter as storms moved through the region overnight. “If you are in the path of this storm, run to shelter now! “, posted the National Weather Service office in Norman, on the social network Emergency crews near Dallas responded to marina for “multiple casualties, some trapped.”
Roads inaccessible and power lines down in Oklahoma also led authorities in the town of Claremore, near Tulsa, to announce on social media that the town was “closed” due to the damage.
April and May were busy months for tornadoes, particularly in the US Midwest. Iowa was hit hard last week, when a deadly tornado devastated Greenfield. Other storms caused flooding and wind damage elsewhere in the state.
The system causing the latest severe weather was expected to move toward the It's during the rest of the weekend. The risk of severe weather shifts to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, weather forecasters said.