OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A sheriff in Texas, United States (US) said at least five people were killed by powerful storms that tore through a rural community, obliterating homes and leaving thousands of people without power yesterday.
Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told The Associated Press that the victims included three family members who were found in one home near Valley View, a rural community near the border with Oklahoma in the US.
The destructive storms began on Saturday night. Officials said a tornado north of Dallas overturned heavy recreational vehicles, shut down an interstate and caused extensive damage to a highway travel centre where drivers had rushed to take shelter.
“It took some time to get back in there because of all the damage with the power lines, and trees were down. It was kind of a monumental task just to get back to where they were,” Sappington told Dallas television station WFAA.
Forecasters had issued tornado and severe thunder storm warnings for parts of both states, as some heat records were broken during the day in South Texas and residents received triple-digit temperature warnings over the long holiday weekend.
A tornado crossed into northern Denton County in Texas late on Saturday and overturned tractor-trailer trucks, stopping traffic on Interstate 35, Denton County Community Relations Director Dawn Cobb said in a statement.
The tornado was confirmed near Valley View, moving east at 64 kilometres per hour, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northern Denton County, Cobb said.
The storm damaged homes, overturned motorhomes and knocked down power lines and trees throughout the area including points in Sanger, Pilot Point, Ray Roberts Lake and Isle du Bois State Park, Cobb said.
People who suffered injuries in the storm were transported to area hospitals by ground and air ambulances, but the number of injuries in the county was not immediately known, Cobb said, while a shelter was opened in Sanger.
The fire department in the city of Denton, about 59.5 kilometres (km) north of Forth Worth, Texas, posted on X that emergency personnel were responding to a marina “for multiple victims, some reported trapped”.
The Claremore, Oklahoma, police announced on social media that the city about 45km east of Tulsa was “shut down” as a result of storm damage including downed power lines and trees and inaccessible roads.
