Death toll rises to 11 after tornadoes touch down in Texas

In Garland, police say about 600 structures were damaged, majority single-family homes.

At least eight people were killed as tornados struck parts of the densely populated Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, leaving much of the region in darkness, local officials and media reported.

A statement on the Garland city website said National Weather Service meteorologists found the damage consistent with a category four tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

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

Authorities said eight people were killed amid severe flooding in Missouri, including four foreign soldiers temporarily stationed at Fort Leonard Wood.

Meanwhile, the Texas Panhandle braced for heavy snowfall, as the National Weather Service also warned Sunday of “life-threatening” blizzard conditions in neighboring parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Roughly half of them involved wintry conditions like blizzards, ice and heavy snow, while the others involved other severe weather like tornadoes and flash floods.

“A variety of unsafe weather conditions will continue across the middle of the country through yesterday”, it said. Photo: AP/Rex C. CurryDamage of a house is seen after Saturday’s tornado spread out in Rowlett, Texas.

Hundreds of flights across the area have been canceled, and with portions of major highways flooded, the storm system is wreaking havoc in holiday travel plans for millions of Americans.

As of late Sunday morning, people in some parts of New Mexico had already seen more than 16 inches of snow fall with drifts as high as 8 feet, making roads impassable in several counties, according to the governor’s office. He said there have been reports of as many as a dozen tornadoes around North Texas, but meteorologists were still working to confirm how many touched down. Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency because of the heavy rain. Pam Russell, left, and Linda Hart rescue Pam’s cat, Larue, from Russell’s house a day after a tornado hit on Delta Drive in Rowlett, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

“Dangerous flooding will extend from north Texas to central IL”.

The man and a child were swept away by the flooding, the report added, and the child was later found safe at a neighbor’s home. According to CNN, Dallas had a high of 82 degrees Saturday.

The new figure brings the total estimate of damaged homes in Texas to as many as 1,450.

“The state of Texas is ready, willing and active in assisting them in any way possible”, he said.

Ms Beltran said she spent her savings on the material she needed to make herself a new home as government aid had lagged. “It looks like it’s going to be pretty bad across the southwest into the southern plains”.

The last Dallas-area F4 tornado ripped through Lancaster on April 24, 2004, before the current Enhanced Fujita scale was put in place.

He blamed the floods partly on climate change, and promised federal aid to help build housing further away from river shores and to raise flood defence walls in the area.