Sign in Authorities in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas were assessing damage early Saturday after tornadoes struck overnight, killing at least one person, injuring at least two dozen and damaging scores of buildings, officials said.
Seventeen tornadoes were reported, but the count is likely to grow Saturday as the scope of the damage becomes clear.
In McCurtain County in southeastern Oklahoma, one death was confirmed by county emergency manager Cody McDaniel. “Roads are still blocked, and we are trying to cut into those places,” McDaniel told the local news outlet Fox 23 on Friday, adding that there was “one fatality in McCurtain County tonight.” He did not provide further information on the fatality.
In a statement posted online early Saturday, county officials urged people to “stay away from damaged areas” and fallen power lines in areas including Idabel, Broken Bow and Pickens.
Teams of first responders and experts were assessing the damage, going “block to block, house to house to do a thorough assessment,” the statement said.
The Red Cross has set up a shelter at a local church for those who were displaced from their homes, it added.
Dangerous storms and the risk of ‘strong’ tornadoes threaten Texas Meanwhile, Oklahoma Gov.
Kevin Stitt (R) tweeted that he was “praying for Oklahomans impacted” by the tornadoes, noting that severe storms had hit several counties, with flash flooding also reported.
In northeast Texas, at least 50 homes were damaged or destroyed in Lamar County, close to the Oklahoma border, by the extreme weather, the office of Sherriff Scott Cass said in a statement late Friday.
It said the tornado hit the region just after 4 p.m. local time Friday and affected areas including Beaver Creek, Powderly, Hopewell and Caviness.
No deaths were reported, but 10 people were being treated at the Paris Regional Medical Center.
Two of them were “critical but stable,” the statement said.
Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today's tornadoes.
Storms hit in Bryan, Choctaw, and Le Flore counties, among others.
Additional flash flooding in some areas.
Search & rescue teams and generators forwarded to the Idabel area.
Will continue to work diligently with @okem .
Teams would be assessing the damage and helping in cleanup operations, the statement said, adding that Lamar County Judge Brandon Bell declared an official disaster in the area, a procedural step toward obtaining federal assistance and funding.
His declaration said that “at least two dozen people were injured around the county,” the local Paris News publication and the Associated Press reported.
One resident in rural Powderly in Lamar County said she had sheltered in a closet with her boyfriend and cat during the tornado. “We felt cold air, and we felt the house shake, and we heard noises, and we felt the ceiling in the hall we were at sucked up,” a woman named as Tammy told the Paris News, adding that her property had suffered roof damage and shattered windows. “The beautiful trees are all gone,” she said. “It was terrifying.
I was pretty scared.” In nearby Hopkins County, home to the Texas city of Sulphur Springs, officials urged residents to take shelter amid the tornado reports, stating that at least “four houses have sustained damage,” but no injuries had been reported late Friday.
The tornadoes formed along a combination cold front/dryline , or the boundary between cool, dry air surging in from the northwest and encroaching into a warm, humid Gulf of Mexico air mass that was trying to creep north.
That clash brewed strong to severe thunderstorms that towered 40,000 to 50,000 feet tall.
Meanwhile, winds changing direction with height helped induce wind shear, which imparted rotation to the storms.
November tornado outbreaks do not occur as regularly as their spring counterparts, but they’re not uncommon.
A threat for tornadoes, severe gusts and large hail exists today and tonight over parts of central, north and east Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, southern/western Arkansas, and northern Louisiana. https://t.co/VyWINDkBnn for more. https://t.co/up2OKri6pi The colored tracks across eastern Texas/Oklahoma into the Ark-La-Tex show where the strong rotational couplets tracked (there were numerous rotating supercells).
These do not necessarily represent tornadoes, but there were numerous touchdowns. #TXwx #ARwx #OKwx pic.twitter.com/1ztVZD4d9f Early Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center took the unusual step of announcing a level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” for severe weather.
The red zone covered extreme northeast Texas, southeast Oklahoma and southwest Arkansas, including the cities of Paris, Tyler and Hot Springs.
Paris was later hit by a tornado, and Tyler and Hot Springs both were at least partially included in tornado warnings.
Hats off to @NWSSPC and the local NWS offices for an incredible forecast and prompt warnings during yesterday's tornado outbreak! pic.twitter.com/OW5ZAz9Qv6 It’s only the fourteenth time since 2002 that a moderate risk has been issued in November, underscoring the relative rarity of such a high-end event in the autumn.
Forecaster confidence was initially shaky as to how likely tornadoes would be.
Despite a high-end “parameter space,” or availability of ingredients , like CAPE, or juice, and wind shear, or spin , storm mode was a wild card.
In other words, meteorologists didn’t know if thunderstorms would quickly merge and interfere, or if a few discrete thunderstorm cells could become established to tap fully into the atmosphere’s volatility.
By the early evening, a string of four or five main rotating supercells had become established, and as they tapped into the low-level jet stream, they became tornado factories.
Tornado that started up near Paris Texas video credit: Byron Prince @ryanhallyall pic.twitter.com/MgxwmIOG3V Greenview, TX just south of Sulphur Springs minutes ago. #TXwx @NWSFortWorth pic.twitter.com/kxrvAVhk96 BREAKING: A #tornado hit a weather station in #Idabel , Oklahoma a little over an hour ago.
Notice the sudden spike in winds , a gust to 108 mph recorded!
Behind the tornado, a spike in dew point and the air becomes saturated as temperatures cool in the cold-air wraparound. pic.twitter.com/g3VLJnnFSN The storms formed as a result of a potent mid-level disturbance , a pocket of frigid air, low pressure and spin nestled within a dip in the jet stream.
That trigger ejected out of New Mexico during the late morning hours before passing over the Texas Panhandle.
Thunderstorms erupted along and ahead of a surface cold front, growing into a dynamic environment favoring strong tornadoes.