(Trends Wide) — More than 50 million people across much of the US were under a severe storm threat Friday, a day after rains ripped deadly roads across Texas and Florida.
Three people were killed in Perryton, Texas, when a devastating tornado ripped through the city on Thursday, the fire marshal told Trends Wide. The storm also sent up to 100 people in the Texas Panhandle city to the hospital with injuries ranging from head wounds to abrasions, the acting CEO of Ochiltree General Hospital told Trends Wide.
And a person in Florida died after being pinned under a tree that fell on their home, Escambia County officials said.
The county, which includes Pensacola, was affected by flash flood emergencies overnight, leading to high water rescues, the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, reported early Friday, citing local rescuers.
A view of a damaged site in Perryton, Texas, as the city is hit by a tornado, in this screenshot obtained from a social media video. (Sabrina Devers/MX/Reuters)
“Widespread and significant” flash flooding was continuing in West Pensacola, Warrington and Gulf Breeze, Escambia County Emergency Management said. “Numerous highways continue to be inundated with water entering various structures,” emergency officials said.
Nearly 150 residents of a Pensacola apartment complex were moved amid rising water Friday morning and taken to a community center seeking shelter, county officials said.
Warrington, just south of Pensacola, received nearly 12 inches of rain in just three hours. Radar estimates indicate up to 40cm of rain fell overnight, with more expected this Friday. A flash flood watch is in effect for the area until 7 p.m. ET.
Many of the areas that experienced severe conditions on Thursday could see storms return as there is a slight level 2 out of 5 risk of severe storms for parts of the South, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Plains.
Large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes are possible in low hazard areas, including Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson, Mississippi; and Tallahassee, Fla.
There is a marginal level 1 out of 5 risk from South Dakota to Florida and to parts of the Mid-Atlantic, a huge area that includes hard-hit Perryton. Other cities in the marginal risk area, which could experience damaging hail and winds, include Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Denver, and Jacksonville, Florida.
The storm that hit Perryton damaged homes and businesses in the town of about 8,000 residents, including the local fire department and EMS, as well as several mobile homes, Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said, noting that many of the department’s trucks they were damaged.
“A tornado formed and it just came down on us. He came from nowhere. There were no sirens, there was no time to get to shelter,” Perryton resident Jamie James said, telling Trends Wide he had to ride out the storm in his truck.
“There was a moment when I thought I was going to die,” he said. “Everything went crazy. Dumpsters were flying and hail was hitting the car.”
James’ house is still standing, but the structure next to it is destroyed. She said the tornado is a devastating blow to the city where she has lived for 15 years. “So many good people in this city. … We take care of each other.”
Power facilities in the city were shut down for safety reasons, according to Xcel Energy.
“The transmission lines that supply electricity to the city have been damaged and many low-voltage distribution lines are down in the city,” said Wes Reeves, a spokesman for Xcel Energy.
“Xcel Energy staff are working to ensure the safety of Perryton residents and first responders. An estimated restoration time is not yet available,” she added.
As of 3 a.m. CT, more than 220,000 homes and businesses across Texas were in the dark, according to the monitoring website Poweroutage.us. In neighboring Louisiana, more than 130,000 lost power, and outages were also reported in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed state emergency resources to “meet urgent life safety needs in Perryton, Texas,” according to a news release from his office.
A tanker partially submerged in water in Perryton.
“We remain ready to rapidly provide additional resources needed during the course of this severe weather event,” the governor said in the statement.
Resources from the surrounding areas have poured into the city to provide much-needed assistance.
Beaver County, Oklahoma, officials sent fire, police and EMS units to help, according to county emergency manager Keith Shadden.
Neighboring city officials in Stinnett, Texas, also began dispatching EMS officers and teams. The Hutchinson County Sheriff’s Office, which includes Stinnett, also dispatched rescue and emergency operations following the “devastating tornado,” according to a Facebook post from the office.
Medical help also came from staff at nearby hospitals who quickly helped up to 100 people after the tornado struck, Ochiltree General Hospital Acting CEO Kelly Judice said.
“Some of them took patients to their hospitals, most of the staff stayed here and worked,” he added.
As of Thursday, there were two reports of tornadoes in Texas, four in Oklahoma and one in Michigan, according to the National Weather Service, with the Perryton tornado being the most significant.
“People lost everything today”
The tornado, which was confirmed by the NWS, tore through some of the main sections of Perryton.
“It literally hit residential, downtown and then industrial as well,” storm chaser Brian Emfinger told Trends Wide.
The worst damage he saw was in the northwestern part of the city, where the tornado headed toward a mobile home park directly in its path, Emfinger explained.
A tanker partially submerged in water in Perryton.
“The storm produced a wall cloud very quickly, and that wall cloud hardened very quickly, and then it just went to the ground very quickly,” Emfinger added.
On the city’s northeast side, about 300 people took shelter inside Perryton High School after extensive damage to the area, the school’s athletic director and football coach Cole Underwood told Trends Wide.
“We have the gym space and we have the capabilities to help people who have lost everything and we are more than willing to do it,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is simply no list of things. … You think about what you need at hand, but people lost everything today.”
US Representative Ronny Jackson, who represents Perryton, said the community needs help.
“If you are in the area, I ask that you do what you can to help your neighbors. Food, fuel, water, generators, whatever you can.”
Trends Wide’s Jennifer Gray, Lucy Kafanov, Raja Razek, Robert Shackelford, Amir Vera and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
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(Trends Wide) — More than 50 million people across much of the US were under a severe storm threat Friday, a day after rains ripped deadly roads across Texas and Florida.
Three people were killed in Perryton, Texas, when a devastating tornado ripped through the city on Thursday, the fire marshal told Trends Wide. The storm also sent up to 100 people in the Texas Panhandle city to the hospital with injuries ranging from head wounds to abrasions, the acting CEO of Ochiltree General Hospital told Trends Wide.
And a person in Florida died after being pinned under a tree that fell on their home, Escambia County officials said.
The county, which includes Pensacola, was affected by flash flood emergencies overnight, leading to high water rescues, the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, reported early Friday, citing local rescuers.
A view of a damaged site in Perryton, Texas, as the city is hit by a tornado, in this screenshot obtained from a social media video. (Sabrina Devers/MX/Reuters)
“Widespread and significant” flash flooding was continuing in West Pensacola, Warrington and Gulf Breeze, Escambia County Emergency Management said. “Numerous highways continue to be inundated with water entering various structures,” emergency officials said.
Nearly 150 residents of a Pensacola apartment complex were moved amid rising water Friday morning and taken to a community center seeking shelter, county officials said.
Warrington, just south of Pensacola, received nearly 12 inches of rain in just three hours. Radar estimates indicate up to 40cm of rain fell overnight, with more expected this Friday. A flash flood watch is in effect for the area until 7 p.m. ET.
Many of the areas that experienced severe conditions on Thursday could see storms return as there is a slight level 2 out of 5 risk of severe storms for parts of the South, Mid-Atlantic and Southern Plains.
Large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes are possible in low hazard areas, including Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson, Mississippi; and Tallahassee, Fla.
There is a marginal level 1 out of 5 risk from South Dakota to Florida and to parts of the Mid-Atlantic, a huge area that includes hard-hit Perryton. Other cities in the marginal risk area, which could experience damaging hail and winds, include Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Denver, and Jacksonville, Florida.
The storm that hit Perryton damaged homes and businesses in the town of about 8,000 residents, including the local fire department and EMS, as well as several mobile homes, Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said, noting that many of the department’s trucks they were damaged.
“A tornado formed and it just came down on us. He came from nowhere. There were no sirens, there was no time to get to shelter,” Perryton resident Jamie James said, telling Trends Wide he had to ride out the storm in his truck.
“There was a moment when I thought I was going to die,” he said. “Everything went crazy. Dumpsters were flying and hail was hitting the car.”
James’ house is still standing, but the structure next to it is destroyed. She said the tornado is a devastating blow to the city where she has lived for 15 years. “So many good people in this city. … We take care of each other.”
Power facilities in the city were shut down for safety reasons, according to Xcel Energy.
“The transmission lines that supply electricity to the city have been damaged and many low-voltage distribution lines are down in the city,” said Wes Reeves, a spokesman for Xcel Energy.
“Xcel Energy staff are working to ensure the safety of Perryton residents and first responders. An estimated restoration time is not yet available,” she added.
As of 3 a.m. CT, more than 220,000 homes and businesses across Texas were in the dark, according to the monitoring website Poweroutage.us. In neighboring Louisiana, more than 130,000 lost power, and outages were also reported in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed state emergency resources to “meet urgent life safety needs in Perryton, Texas,” according to a news release from his office.
A tanker partially submerged in water in Perryton.
“We remain ready to rapidly provide additional resources needed during the course of this severe weather event,” the governor said in the statement.
Resources from the surrounding areas have poured into the city to provide much-needed assistance.
Beaver County, Oklahoma, officials sent fire, police and EMS units to help, according to county emergency manager Keith Shadden.
Neighboring city officials in Stinnett, Texas, also began dispatching EMS officers and teams. The Hutchinson County Sheriff’s Office, which includes Stinnett, also dispatched rescue and emergency operations following the “devastating tornado,” according to a Facebook post from the office.
Medical help also came from staff at nearby hospitals who quickly helped up to 100 people after the tornado struck, Ochiltree General Hospital Acting CEO Kelly Judice said.
“Some of them took patients to their hospitals, most of the staff stayed here and worked,” he added.
As of Thursday, there were two reports of tornadoes in Texas, four in Oklahoma and one in Michigan, according to the National Weather Service, with the Perryton tornado being the most significant.
“People lost everything today”
The tornado, which was confirmed by the NWS, tore through some of the main sections of Perryton.
“It literally hit residential, downtown and then industrial as well,” storm chaser Brian Emfinger told Trends Wide.
The worst damage he saw was in the northwestern part of the city, where the tornado headed toward a mobile home park directly in its path, Emfinger explained.
A tanker partially submerged in water in Perryton.
“The storm produced a wall cloud very quickly, and that wall cloud hardened very quickly, and then it just went to the ground very quickly,” Emfinger added.
On the city’s northeast side, about 300 people took shelter inside Perryton High School after extensive damage to the area, the school’s athletic director and football coach Cole Underwood told Trends Wide.
“We have the gym space and we have the capabilities to help people who have lost everything and we are more than willing to do it,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is simply no list of things. … You think about what you need at hand, but people lost everything today.”
US Representative Ronny Jackson, who represents Perryton, said the community needs help.
“If you are in the area, I ask that you do what you can to help your neighbors. Food, fuel, water, generators, whatever you can.”
Trends Wide’s Jennifer Gray, Lucy Kafanov, Raja Razek, Robert Shackelford, Amir Vera and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
