The north Texas town of Perryton was struck by one or more tornados that inflicted damage to homes and a mobile home park, local media reported on Thursday.
One fatality has been confirmed and more than 75 people were being treated at the local hospital, Perryton fire chief Paul Dutcher told ABC News. Ten were in a critical condition, one health official said.
Local KVII-TV reported that at least 30 trailers had been damaged or destroyed in Perryton and that firefighters were still rescuing victims at 6pm local time. It said the town may have been struck by three tornadoes.
“It’s bad, it’s very bad. It’s non-stop crazy. It couldn’t have hit in a more vulnerable place,” mayor Kerry Symons said by telephone, adding that he would be unable to say exactly how many people had died until Friday morning.
Images from the ground in Perryton showed homes torn apart and left in rubble.
First responders from surrounding areas and from Oklahoma descended on the town, which is home to more than 8,000 people and about 115 miles northeast of Amarillo, just south of the Oklahoma line.
There is currently no power to Perryton, Xcel Energy told ABC News.
“Our crews are arriving on site and are assisting in removing lines from cars and across the roads,” Xcel Energy said in a statement.
Nearly 50,000 customers were without electricity in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the poweroutage.us website.
“Jane & I are praying for the people of Perryton tonight. I am in contact with Mayor Symons and this tragedy is being closely monitored by myself and my whole staff,” Representative Ronny Jackson, a Republican from Texas, said on Twitter, referring to Perryton’s mayor, Kerry Symons.
The Ochiltree general hospital in Perryton directed the injured to a local clinic or the emergency room. The hospital also said an American Red Cross shelter had been set up at the Ochiltree county expo center.
“We have seen somewhere between 50 and 100 patients,” said Kelly Judice, the hospital’s interim CEO, including about 10 in critical condition who were transferred to other hospitals.
Patients had minor to major trauma, ranging from “head injuries to collapsed lungs, lacerations, broken bones,” she said.
By evening, the weather front was moving southeast across Oklahoma. The weather service said a second round of storms would continue to move through that state and parts of Texas through the evening while the risk of severe weather, including tornados, remained for the metropolitan Oklahoma City area.
It was the second day in a row that powerful storms struck the US. On Wednesday, strong winds toppled trees, damaged buildings and blew cars off a highway from the eastern part of Texas to Georgia.
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