Deadly storms sweep through Texas, Okla.
Tornadoes and baseball-sized hail destroy homes and knock out power
Jeremy Dickey tries to turn off the water to his house in Breckenridge, Texas, after it was struck by an apparent tornado Wednesday. Dickey's wife, Tina, and two children, aged 4 years and 8 months, hid in an interior closet he had reinforced as a shelter. They were not injured, but the house was moved 10 feet off of its foundation.
Deadly storms sweep through Texas, Okla.
BRECKENRIDGE, Texas - Powerful storms including apparent tornadoes moved through parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Wednesday, destroying several homes, knocking out power and causing several injuries and at least one death.
In Breckenridge, 125 miles west of Dallas, at least five homes were destroyed and there were reports of minor injuries, police said.
Robbie Dewberry, an administrator at Stephens Memorial Hospital, said the hospital treated three people for storm-related injuries. He said the hospital was operating on emergency backup power.
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Crews with Oncor Electric Delivery were surveying the extent of the damage in Breckenridge, where about 3,500 customers were without power, Oncor spokesman Neal Blanton said.
Hangar destroyed
KTVT-TV of Dallas-Fort Worth showed footage of damage at the small airport in the town. A twin-engine plane sat amid the crumpled sheet metal that had been a hangar.
Several outbuildings were also damaged, but officials could not immediately confirm that the damage was caused by a tornado, said Jessica Schultz, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Another tornado apparently touched down in Palo Pinto County between Graford and Oran, meteorologist Jennifer Dunn said. Officials said roofs had been blown off a few homes and trees were down in Oran, about 80 miles west of Dallas.
The storm moved north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday night.
Earlier, storm chasers reported that a tornado briefly skipped twice on Interstate 20 west of Abilene, meteorologist Mary Keiser said.
The accompanying thunderstorm sent hail — some as large as a baseball — pounding down in several counties around the Abilene area, Keiser said.
In Oklahoma, meteorologist Andrew Taylor said there were two reports of a tornado in Choctaw County in the southeastern part of the state, although no damage was reported. Taylor said the reports could have been about the same tornado.
A woman was killed when her vehicle skidded off a highway and struck a pole and tree in Caddo County during heavy rain, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.
Highways closed
Flooding caused the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to close five highways in the state, and the National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several eastern Oklahoma waterways.
Heavy rain and flash flooding was also reported in Arkansas. Entergy Arkansas said it opened spillway gates at the Remmel Dam in Hot Spring County to release excess water from Lake Catherine, about 50 miles southwest of Little Rock.
In Polk County, along the Oklahoma state line, U.S. 71 was covered with as much as a foot of water, while state Route 375 had 6 inches of water on it, the weather service said. Sheriff's officials said workers at the hospital in Mena were putting sandbags in place to keep water out of the emergency room.
Meanwhile, a small tornado caused scattered damage in southwest Michigan, authorities said.
No injuries were reported, but authorities said several horses were trapped inside a barn damaged by the stormy weather early Wednesday.
