Six people were dead and seven missing yesterday after a powerful tornado ripped through a neighbourhood that included housing for the poor in the north Texas town of Granbury, marking the deadliest severe storm outbreak in the United States so far this year.
Authorities were assessing damage and searching through rubble yesterday afternoon, hoping to find survivors among the twisted metal and splintered wood of flattened homes.
“This tornado was a monster,” said Hood County Commissioner Steve Berry. “It’s just devastating.”
The tornado, which brought winds of 166-200 miles per hour, was rated an EF4 by the National Weather Service (NWS), the second-most powerful level for such a storm, said NWS meteorologist Mark Wiley.
EF4 tornadoes are rare and can blow away a well constructed wood or brick home, according to weather service ratings.
Granbury, a town of 8,000 people about 56 kilometres southwest of Dallas-Fort Worth, took the hardest hit. Officials counted six dead in Hood County, where Granbury is located, said county spokesman, Tye Bell.
Another seven were missing and at least 45 people were injured, with most of the victims coming from the Rancho Brazos subdivision of approximately 110 mostly single-family homes.
Ronna Cotten, 38, was home with three of her four children when the sirens went off. She and the children, ages 14, 12 and eight, hid in a hallway closet as the twister ripped the roof off their home. When she emerged with her children after the storm passed, Cotten saw “bodies everywhere,” she said.
“We’re trying to figure out what to do one step at a time,” she said.
Frank Gamez, a construction worker in Granbury, said he found the body of a friend as he and other people searched the neighborhood after the tornado hit on Wednesday evening.
“We lost one of our friends. We found him laying on the ground,” Gamez said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement saying he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths, and that state officials were assisting with local needs.
“The thoughts of 26 million Texans are with those suffering today,” Perry said.
The area hit included 61 homes built by Habitat for Humanity, the charity said on its website. Habitat for Humanity uses volunteers to build and repair homes for low-income residents.
Gamez said one Habitat for Humanity home that was to be officially presented to a poor family this weekend, was completely destroyed. Angela Jackson, 47, said her home, which was built by Habitat for Humanity 11 years ago, suffered roof damage and broken windows but was still standing.