Deadly tornadoes flatten buildings in Texas and Oklahoma
Two people have been killed after the storm devastated swathes of territory.
Residents in south-eastern Oklahoma and north-eastern Texas are assessing damage and taking part in recovery work after tornadoes tore through the region, killing at least two people.
After visiting the town of Idabel, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt said a 90-year-old man had been killed.
The state’s department of emergency management said the man’s body was found at his home in the Pickens area of McCurtain County, about 36 miles north of Idabel.
In Morris County, Texas, Judge Doug Reeder said in a social media post that one person died as a result of a tornado in the far north-eastern Texas County.
The drowning has not been officially attributed to the storm and will be investigated by the medical examiner, a spokesperson said.
On Saturday afternoon, Mr Stitt declared a state of emergency for McCurtain County, where Idabel is located, and neighbouring Bryan, Choctaw and LeFlore counties.
The declaration is a step in qualifying for federal assistance and funding and clears the way for state agencies to make disaster-recovery related purchases without limits on bidding requirements.
Texas governor Greg Abbott said damage assessments and recovery efforts are under way in the state’s north-east and encouraged residents to report damage to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
US National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darby in Tulsa said the far-reaching storm produced heavy rain in the Stilwell area at the time, around 4in.
Trinity Baptist Church in Idabel was preparing to complete a new building when the storm ripped apart their sanctuary and flattened the shell of the new structure next door, according to Pastor Don Myer.
The 250-member congregation was to vote after the Sunday service on whether to move ahead with the final work to complete the building, Mr Myer told The Associated Press.
“But we didn’t get to that. Every vote counts and we had one vote trump us all,” Mr Myer, 67, said. “We were right on the verge of that. That’s how close we were.”
Judge Brandon Bell, the highest elected official in Lamar County where Powderly is located, declared a disaster in that area. Judge Bell’s declaration stated that at least two dozen people were injured across the county.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth confirmed three tornadoes – in Lamar, Henderson and Hopkins counties – on Friday night as a line of storms dropped rain and sporadic hail on the Dallas-Fort Worth area and continued to push eastward.
The weather service’s office in Shreveport, Louisiana, said it was assessing the damage in Oklahoma.
Weather service meteorologist Bianca Garcia in Fort Worth said while peak severe weather season typically is in the spring, tornadoes occasionally develop in October, November, December and even January.
“It’s not very common,” Ms Garcia said, “but it does happen across our region.”
