Adam Lee, left, and Jr. Ibarra, right, carry a table from a friend’s home after it was destroyed by a tornado, Tuesday in Wayne, Okla. (SUE OGROCKI | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS A massive storm blowing across the country spawned tornadoes that wrecked homes and injured a handful of people in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions.
An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.
In the south, a line of thunderstorms that moved across North Texas and Oklahoma in the early morning hours brought tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and heavy rain, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Bradshaw. Authorities on Tuesday reported dozens of damaged homes and businesses and several people injured.
In the Fort Worth suburbs, photos sent by the North Richland Hills police department, showed a home without a roof, a tree that had been split in half and an overturned vehicle in a parking lot. About 20 homes and businesses were damaged in the storm, the police said.
In nearby Grapevine, police spokesperson Amanda McNew said there have been five confirmed injuries, yet no fatalities and no life-threatening injuries, from the storms.
“So the main thing is that we’ve got everyone in a safe place,” McNew said just after noon. “And so now we’re starting the process of going through the city looking at damage to property, to businesses, homes and then roads to see what needs to be closed, what we can open and how soon we can open them.”
Near Decatur, about 70 miles northwest of Dallas, the Wise County Office of Emergency Management said one person was injured from flying debris while traveling in their vehicle and the other was injured when their vehicle overturned due to high winds. One person was taken to the hospital and the other was treated at the scene.
Meanwhile, a tornado damaged the Oklahoma town of Wayne shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. There were no deaths or injuries due to the tornado, McClain County Sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Murrell said. But as authorities began assessing its impact Tuesday morning, it was clear there was widespread damage to Wayne, which is about 45 miles south of Oklahoma City.
“We’ve got multiple family structures with significant damage … barns, power lines down” in and around the town, Murrell said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Speheger said wind speeds reached 111-135 mph and the tornado was rated EF-2. It was likely on the ground for about two to four minutes, according to the weather service.
