At last six people are dead and seven are missing after as many as 10 tornadoes blew through north-central Texas Wednesday evening, according to Reuters. This marks the worst storm in the United States so far this year.
According to authorities, the death toll could accumulate from the tornadoes. The storms hit from early Wednesday evening to around dusk, tearing through homes and destroying trees and in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.
Granbury, a town 35 miles west of Dallas Fort-Worth with a population of about 8,000 people took the biggest hit.
Tye Bell, a spokesman in Hood County where Granbury is located, said seven people are still unaccounted for and at least 45 have suffered injuries. Most of these people come from a single subdivision of homes within the town.
"The main concern is life safety and finding any victims that still need our help," said Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds at a press conference on Thursday.
Deeds said the six people reported dead were found in Rancho Brazos, a neighborhood of about 110 single family homes on the edge of Granbury which took the hardest hit from the winds.
Bulldozers are working to move debris out of roads so people will be able to leave their houses.
According to Mark Wiley, emergency response meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Forth Worth office, preliminary reports showed the agency had issued a tornado warning for Granbury 26 minutes before the storm hit.
Wiley added this is a peculiarly long time to have a warning since they are usually 10 to 12 minutes in advance. Also, the rating of the devastating twister has not been determined yet but “it was a strong tornado just based on the damage,” said Wiley.
Corey Mead, forecaster at NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said more storms could be coming to Texas as well as areas of Arkansas and northern Louisiana. However if storms do hit Texas they would come to the Northeast and not the area hit on Wednesday.
