Texas firefighters gained the upper hand over historic wildfires as violent weather closed in on urban centers and residents in some regions sought shelter from tornadoes.
The largest cluster of blazes that erupted last week in Eastland County, in the central part of the state, was 60% contained as of late Monday, the Texas A&M Forest Service said in a tweet.
Texas is facing a dizzying array of extreme weather and natural disasters — including tornadoes, flooding, wildfires and freezes — across its vast geography. While a fire threat remains high in the west, portions of the east remain under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. Tornadoes and flooding are also possible in Louisiana on Tuesday, it said.
The storms were spawned by a clash of weather systems rolling in from the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, braced for heavy rain, slashing winds and dangerous hail through Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center.
There were 22 reports of tornadoes, mainly across eastern Texas, as well as one in Oklahoma, according to the Storm Prediction Center. At least three people were injured by the storms, the agency said. In the North Texas town of Jacksboro, a twister touched down, raking homes, a high school and an animal shelter.
Elsewhere, parts of the Texas Panhandle were under a winter weather advisory, with additional snowfall and winds as high 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) per hour.
The wild weather was evident in Amarillo, where a high temperature of 66 degrees Fahrenheit was posted, and a low of 33 (0.6-18.9 degrees Celsius) The city set a rainfall record for the date of 1.18 inches and a snowfall record for the date of 3.1 inches.
Statewide, the number of homes and businesses without power stood at about 59,000 by 7:49 a.m. local time, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storms are being propelled by “a classic spring severe weather setup” as a powerful system sweeping over the Rocky Mountains taps into a deep reservoir of moist warm air coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, said Zack Taylor, a senior branch forecaster at the weather prediction center. In addition to the wind and thunderstorm risk, parts of eastern Texas, and portions of Louisiana and Arkansas, face the potential for flash flooding.
