Four dead in Texas tornado

Four dead in Texas tornado

Henry
Henry Walsh

A powerful tornado in the southern US state of Texas – where residents are already reeling from a heat wave – has caused the death of at least four people.

According to the fire service in the neighboring city of Lubbock, the town of Matador experienced an unprecedented tornado that caused devastating winds.

“There are four confirmed deaths and ten people injured,” a post on the fire service’s Twitter page read.

Given the high temperatures, the city has also made a cooling center available for residents.

Matador, with a population of approximately 600 people, is the largest town in Motley County in northern Texas.

The US National Weather Service, which confirmed the death toll, referred to “significant damage to the western portions of Matador, with several buildings severely damaged or destroyed”.

At least four tornadoes were reported in Texas on Wednesday. Rain and strong winds also hit some cities in the state.

About a week ago, a similar storm hit the city of Perryton – also in North Texas. Three people were killed and around a hundred injured.

Texas, as well as the southern parts of the USA, have endured storms and a fierce heat wave in the past few days, with temperatures reaching up to 40 °C.

Several cities, including Lubbock and Houston, have made air-conditioned shelters available to residents against the heat.

This again put pressure on Texas’ power grid. The Texas grid is operated independently of the rest of the country and has recently had to deal with an extremely high demand for power, especially in the afternoons.

According to Poweroutage.us, which monitors power outages in the US, more than 220,000 people were without power nationwide on Thursday.

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