Fatalities reported as violent storms rip through small Texas town
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Violent storms resulted in severe destruction and fatalities in the small northern Texas town of Matador and left hundreds of thousands without power in the state. Tornadoes were reported in Motley and nearby Afton, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A tornado watch was also in effect in the southeastern part of the state, the National Weather Service said, adding that storms could carry hail as large as four inches in diameter.
“The western part of town has been pretty much wiped out,” said Brandon Moore, a city official in Matador. “It’s really a mess.”
Trees, homes and businesses had all been destroyed, he said, adding that rescue efforts were ongoing.
An official with the town’s fire department confirmed there were fatalities but did not provide details. A team from Lubbock’s fire department was helping with search and rescue operation in Matador, the Lubbock fire department said on Twitter.
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Warning about the severe storms, the state emergency services asked residents to heed local warnings and remain alert. Sen. Ted Cruz (R.) said his team in West Texas are monitoring the severe weather in Matador.
The town of nearly 600 is the latest community to be pummeled by dangerous storms and tornadoes in a year in which 69 people in the United States have already died in tornadoes. That number is three times as high as the toll in all of 2022.
William Iwasko, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Lubbock, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that “there had been three confirmed tornadoes in the line of storms.” Only the one in Matador appeared to have caused major damage, the report noted.
About 500 miles away, Houston experienced high winds gusting to 97 mph. The wind speeds surpassed the previous record set during Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Houston weather office tweeted.
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The storms in Texas are happening in the middle of a debilitating heat wave that has temperatures soaring past 100 degrees and exceeding 110 in some places. The record-breaking heat wave is likely to persist across large portions of Texas, the weather forecast said, into early next week.
More than 380,000 homes in Texas remained without power late Wednesday because of the storms, according to Poweroutage.us. Earlier on Tuesday, the state’s power grid operator had asked locals to voluntarily reduce electricity usage for four hours, given the extreme heat and anticipating record demand.
Last week, a tornado ripped through Perryton in the Texas panhandle, killing three people and injuring as many as 100.
A tornado warning was issued for three counties in southeastern Colorado by the local weather agency. A dangerous hailstorm in Red Rocks in the Denver metropolitan area injured nearly 100 concertgoers. Seven people were taken for treatment to hospitals, the West Metro fire department said, adding that the injuries included cuts and broken bones.
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Source: The Washington Post
