At least two people have died and dozens more are injured after tornadoes ravaged parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Several twisters caused property damage and physical injury across the various states on Friday. Tornado warnings had still been in effect as of late Friday in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
An early report from the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center found that nine tornadoes formed in Texas, four in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma, CNN reported.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced on social media that a 90 year old man was killed near the town of Idabel. A spokesperson for the state’s Department of Emergency Management, said the man’s body was found at his home.
More than 60 homes were destroyed and 100 houses “affected” by the fit of extreme weather, officials told local media.
“There was total destruction on the south and east sides of Idabel,” a local emergency management coordinator, Steven Carter, said to the Texarkana Gazette.
Officials are also working to survey damage in the area, which was rife with reports of downed power lines and other extensive destruction.
Elsewhere, an official in Morris County, Texas said in a social media post that one person died as a result of a tornado in the far northeastern Texas County, offering no other details.
Injuries were reported across northern Texas, where at least two people were transported to area hospitals in “critical but stable” condition, a statement posted on social media by the Lamar county sheriff’s office confirmed, NBC News reported.
Lamar county resident Craig Holcomb spoke to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth on Friday about what he witnessed during the tornado: “I make fun of people, always talking about the train noise, but it sounded just like it … All you could hear was a loud whistle and I saw debris flying everywhere.”
Holcomb and his wife were able to shelter in their bathtub.
At least 50 homes were also damaged or destroyed in Texas, NBC News reported, with officials promising help from local and state agencies to assist with cleaning up the damage.
The destruction followed a line of storms which dropped rain and sporadic hail on the Dallas-Fort Worth area before continuing to push eastward.
While springtime usually marks the peak of severe weather season for the region including Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, tornadoes do occasionally develop in October, November, December and even January, said weather service meteorologist Bianca Garcia in Fort Worth.
Garcia said such storms are “not very common”.
“But it does happen across our region,” she added.
Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting
