Tornadoes ripped through parts of Texas and Oklahoma, destroying and damaging dozens of homes and injuring at least 10 people Friday, officials said.
Two people were in “critical but stable,” condition, a statement posted to the Facebook page of the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office in northern Texas said.
Around “50 homes are damaged or destroyed” in the county, the statement said, adding that “over the next several days there will be multiple State and Local Agencies here to assess, evaluate and clean up damage.”
Craig Holcomb, of Midcity in Lamar County, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth on Friday that he could see the debris flying from a tornado. He said that he and his wife took cover in a bathtub.
“I make fun of people, always talking about the train noise, but it sounded just like it,” he said “All you could hear was a loud whistle and I saw debris flying everywhere.”
Across Texas’ northern border in Oklahoma, Tornadoes hit hard in McCurtain County in the southeastern corner of the state.
The small town of Idabel saw a church, medical center and school torn apart, according to the Associated Press. Also hit hard was the Texan town Powderly, about 45 miles west of Idabel and about 120 miles northeast of Dallas, the AP reported.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tweeted that search-and-rescue teams and generators were being sent to the Idabel area. “Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today’s tornadoes,” he added.
Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Office said at least three other counties were also hit by storms, with flash flooding in some areas.
The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were reported Arkansas and a storm system was heading toward Louisiana.
There were 17 reports of tornadoes in northeastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas late Friday, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Storm surveys are typically done to confirm whether tornadoes touched down.
Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
