At Least 8 Dead in Tornadoes, Severe Storms Near Dallas

Joe Harn, police spokesman for Garland, about 32 kilometres northeast of Dallas, said five people were killed in vehicle accidents during the massive storm, but it’s unclear if all were in the same vehicle or how they died.

The National Weather Service determined that the tornado that hit Garland was an EF-4 on the Fujita scale, with winds between 156 and 200 miles per hour.

The damage in the Dallas area stretched for about 40 miles, and included smashed vehicles, roofs blown off homes, and downed trees and power lines.

Debris lies on the ground near a home that was heavily damaged by a tornado in Rowlett, Texas. His house only had minor damage, but was next to that were flattened. In some instances, it looked like homes had been picked up and set back down in a big pile.

A total of 15 people in Garland also sustained injuries, while about 600 structures were damaged in what Barineau called “total devastation”.

Heavy rains sweeping through the Dallas area and into parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas could bring heavy flooding in some areas for days, Wiley said.

Weather service meteorologist Matt Bishop in the Fort Worth office said the tornado outbreak at this time of the year for North Texas occurs “from time to time… but it’s certainly not something that happens regularly”. Officer Mike Hatfield told CBS11 police responded to the scene at President George Bush Turnpike and I-30.

The tornadoes left 50,000 people in a blackout across northern Texas.

Three more people died in Collin County, about 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) northeast of Dallas, according to sheriff’s deputy Chris Havey, although the circumstances were not immediately clear.

Pedro Barineau said that three deaths occurred in vehicles, according to the Associated Press.

More than 3 inches of rain fell in many areas, and the NWS reported flooded roads in parts of Franklin County.

The snow and winter weather in the central states this weekend will move toward the eastern Tennessee Valley early next week, followed by cooling temperatures that should bring more normal weather to the South and Northeast by midweek, said forecaster Corey Mead of the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. “They didn’t know if they were going to make it”. Flash flooding was expected from Oklahoma to IL and more than a foot of snow may fall from Roswell, New Mexico, to the Texas panhandle.

Further north, rain caused unsafe driving conditions and flooding in Missouri and IL. The city of Eureka, along Interstate 44 in St. Louis County, also experienced flooding.

One tornado was reported in Ovilla and Desoto, and also reportedly struck portions of Midlothian, Waxahachie, Glenn Heights.

In Wren, Mississippi, Victor and Tameka Hale watched as their home of ten years was overtaken by water.