At least 10 people were hurt and scores of homes were destroyed or damaged by tornadoes that tore across areas of Texas and Oklahoma on Friday, according to officials.
According to a message on the Facebook page of the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office in northern Texas, two persons were in “critical but stable” conditions.
The statement said that “over the next several days there will be numerous State and Local Agencies here to survey, evaluate, and clean up the damage,” adding that “around 50 homes are damaged or destroyed” in the county.
On Friday, Craig Holcomb of Midcity in Lamar County told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that he had seen tornado debris flying. He claimed he and his wife sought refuge 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.”
Tornadoes struck McCurtain County in the southeast of the state hard across the northern border of Texas in Oklahoma.
According to the Associated Press, a church, hospital, and school were destroyed in the little hamlet of Idabel. The Texan town of Powderly, which is located 120 miles northeast of Dallas and 45 miles west of Idabel, was also severely affected, according to the AP.
Search and rescue teams and generators were being rushed to the Idabel region, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt tweeted.
“Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today’s tornadoes,” he added.
According to Oklahoma Emergency Management Office’s Keli Cain, at least three additional counties were also affected by storms, with some seeing flash floods.
According to the National Weather Service, there have also been reports of tornadoes in Arkansas, and a storm system is moving toward Louisiana.
The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service reported 17 tornado reports for late Friday in northeastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas. It is customary to conduct storm surveys to determine whether tornadoes occurred.
