A robust storm struck the northern Texas city of Matador on Wednesday evening, killing no less than one individual, damaging a number of buildings and prompting a seek for individuals who might need been injured or trapped by particles, the authorities mentioned.
Matador, which has about 600 residents, is roughly 290 miles northwest of Dallas and was below a twister warning because the storm barreled by way of the world round 8 p.m., mentioned William Iwasko, a meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service in Lubbock.
“Primarily based on the harm,’’ he added, “there was probably a twister” in Matador, however that will likely be decided on Thursday.
The mayor of Matador, Pat Smith, who additionally offers emergency medical companies within the city, mentioned in a short cellphone interview that he and different rescuers had discovered one individual lifeless and that there was “an entire lot of harm.”
“I’ve to go, it’s unhealthy,” he mentioned earlier than hanging up.
A livestream of the city from KWTV-DT, a tv station in Oklahoma Metropolis, appeared to point out torn buildings as sturdy winds swayed cellphone traces and bushes.
The storm got here a couple of week after a twister pummeled one other Texas city, Perryton, the place three individuals have been killed and dozens of cell houses have been mangled. That twister was a part of a ferocious sequence of storms that swept throughout the South final week.
The storm in Matador additionally got here as a heat dome stalled over much of Oklahoma and Texas.
Texas officers issued an extreme warmth warning for the Dallas-Fort Value area and requested residents in the remainder of the state to preserve electrical energy for concern that the ability grid might buckle over a number of days of triple-digit temperatures.
