Three people were left dead after a devastating tornado in Texas amid more bad weather in the US.
The twister tore through the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton on Thursday, injuring dozens more and causing widespread damage as another series of fierce storms carved its way through Southern states.
The National Weather Service in Amarillo confirmed that a tornado hit the area shortly after 5pm yesterday. Around 50,000 people were left without electricity in Oklahoma and Texas, PowerOutage.us said.
On Facebook, Ochiltree General Hospital in Perryton said they had seen "between 50 and 100 patients". Around 10 people were reported to be in a critical condition and were transferred to other hospitals.
Patients had minor to major trauma, ranging from "head injuries to collapsed lungs, lacerations, broken bones," Kelly Judice, the hospital's interim CEO, said.
Mobile homes were ripped apart and pickup trucks with shattered windshield were slammed against mounds of rubble in residential areas.
Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said at least one person was killed in a mobile home park that took a "direct hit" from a tornado. Dutcher said at least 30 trailers were damaged or destroyed.
Authorities imposed a curfew from midnight until 6am due to downed power lines and cited other possible dangers possibly lurking in the dark.
Storm chaser Brian Emfinger told Fox Weather that he watched the twister move through a mobile home park, mangling trailers and uprooting trees.
"I had seen the tornado do some pretty serious destruction to the industrial part of town," he said. "Unfortunately, just west of there, there is just mobile home, after mobile home, after mobile home that is completely destroyed."
First responders from surrounding towns and cities and from neighbouring Oklahoma descended on the town, which is home to more than 8,000 people and about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Amarillo, just south of the Oklahoma line.
Chris Samples of local radio station KXDJ-FM said the station was running on auxiliary power.
"The whole city is out of power," he said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Thursday he had directed the state Division of Emergency Management to help with everything from traffic control to restoring water and other utilities, if needed.
By evening, the weather front was moving southeast across Oklahoma. The weather service said a second round of storms would continue to move through that state and parts of Texas through the evening while the risk of severe weather, including tornados, remained for the metropolitan Oklahoma City area.
It was the second day in a row that powerful storms struck the US. On Wednesday, strong winds toppled trees, damaged buildings and blew cars off a highway from the eastern part of Texas to Georgia.
A barn was smashed and trees toppled in Sandusky County, Ohio, and power lines were downed in northern Toledo, leaving thousands without power. The weather service reported "a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado" over Bellevue and storms showing "signs of rotation" in other areas.
