An 11-year-old boy was among the three people killed by the massive tornado which tore through a Texas Panhandle town on Thursday.
Becky Randall, a woman in her 60s, was found in a print shop, and Cindy Bransgrove, a woman also in her 60s, was discovered in a food bank, Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard said.
The body of an 11-year-old boy, Matthew Ramirez, was found in a trailer park.
The twister hit Perryton, a town of around 8,000 people close to the Oklahoma border, on Thursday just after 5pm local time, leaving a quarter-mile trail of destruction according to the National Weather Service.
A mobile home park took a “direct hit” from the tornado, Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said. In addition to the fatalities, up to 100 people are being treated for injuries ranging from minor to severe.
Ochiltree General Hospital in Perryton lost power in the tornado as the injured were brought in to be treated.
Debbie Beck, CFO of Ochiltree General Hospital, told ABC News on Thursday that the hospital was without power but managed to treat 50 to 100 patients for tornado-related injuries.
Patients had suffered “head injuries to collapsed lungs, lacerations, broken bones,” said Kelly Judice, the hospital’s interim CEO.
At least one person remains missing in the town, according to emergency responders on Friday, who are scouring collapsed buildings. Dozens of homes and businesses had been destroyed or suffered damage.
More than 200,000 customers were without power in Texas on Friday afternoon, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.us. In Ochiltree County, home to Perryton, 91 per cent of customers have been cut off.
In a separate incident, another person died late on Thursday in the Florida Panhandle when a tornado ripped through Escambia County and downed a tree onto a home, The Associated Press reported.
The Lone Star State was pummeled by severe storms on Thursday. Storm chaser Brian Emfinger told Fox Weather that he watched the twister move through a mobile home park in Perryton, mangling trailers and uprooting trees.
“I had seen the tornado do some pretty serious destruction to the industrial part of town,” he added.
“Unfortunately, just west of there, there is just mobile home, after mobile home, after mobile home that is completely destroyed. There is significant damage.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that the state Division of Emergency Management would send resources to Perryton to assist in the response and recovery.
Storms also impacted neighboring Oklahoma later on Thursday including the metropolitan Oklahoma City area.
Large parts of the southwest are under extreme heat advisories this week with temperatures soaring well above 100F in Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
