One dead, scores missing after tornadoes hit southern US
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A tornado is seen on a farm in Greenview, Texas, on Nov 4, 2022, in a screenshot from a social media video.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – At least one person was killed and multiple others were missing after powerful tornadoes hit the southern US states of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, officials and media reports said.
More than 150 homes and buildings were damaged in the storms, which tore through rural areas, hitting McCurtain County in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma especially hard.
“The office of the chief medical examiner has confirmed one fatality in or near Pickens in McCurtain County,” Keli Cain, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said in an email.
In McCurtain County, the storm leveled buildings, pulverized concrete and warped metal. Videos and photos posted online showed the storm snapping trees in half and downing power lines.
Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma wrote on Twitter that the state had sent search-and-rescue teams and generators to the county. He said storms had also hit Bryan, Choctaw and Le Flore counties.
Carly Atchison, a spokesperson for Mr Stitt, said in an email that the governor was assessing the damage Saturday in Idabel, the McCurtain County seat, which has a population of about 7,000 people.
The McCurtain Memorial Hospital described the damaged caused by the tornadoes.
“We have had reports of fatalities as a result of these storms. We’ve (seen) injuries as a result,” it said in a Facebook post on Friday evening. “We’ve (seen) partial and total destruction but God was with us.”
In northern Texas near the border with Oklahoma, about 50 homes were damaged or destroyed, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office said after a tornado touched down on Friday afternoon.
“There have been 10 persons treated at the Paris Regional Medical Centre, two critical, but stable,” it said in a statement on Facebook. “There are no fatalities at this time.”
Lamar County judge Brandon Bell had declared a disaster for the county, it added.
“There has been quite a bit of damage and some injuries,” Lamar County constable Travis Rhodes told CNN.
Search and rescue teams and generators were headed to the area of Idabel, a town of about 7,000 in south-east Oklahoma, he tweeted.
“Storms hit in Bryan, Choctaw, and Le Flore counties, among others. Additional flash flooding in some areas,” he said.
The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings for parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Tornadoes are a frequent and often devastating weather phenomenon in the US, with the Great Plains states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas the hardest hit.
In December last year, dozens of devastating tornadoes ripped through five US states overnight, leaving at least 79 people dead in Kentucky – with fatalities also recorded in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. AFP, NYTIMES
