Tornado overturns trucks and damages homes; Texas and Oklahoma residents urged to seek shelter

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A tornado touched down and crossed a Texas interstate, causing damage and possible injuries as isolated severe storms moved through Texas and Oklahoma Saturday night.

Meteorologists issued tornado and severe weather warnings for parts of both states as several heat records were broken in South Texas throughout the day and residents received triple-digit temperature warnings for the long holiday weekend.

A tornado moved into northern Denton County, Texas, late Saturday, overturning semi-trailers and bringing traffic to a standstill on Interstate 35, Dawn Cobb, director of Denton County public information, said in a statement.

The tornado was confirmed near Valley View and was moving east at 40 mph (64 kph), prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northern Denton County, Cobb said.

The storm damaged homes, overturned mobile homes and downed power lines and trees throughout the region, including in Sanger, Pilot Point, Ray Roberts Lake and Isle du Bois State Park, Cobb said, adding that the number of injuries in the county was not yet known.

Heavy storm clouds move over the northwest edge of Davenport, Iowa, on Friday, May 24, 2024. Multiple tornadoes were reported in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees Friday, shortly after a deadly tornado devastated a small town. (Roy Dabner/Quad City Times via AP)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Roy Dabner

The fire department of the city of Denton, about 37 miles north of Fort Worth, Texas, posted on X that rescue workers were on their way to a marina “to search for several victims, some of whom are believed to be trapped.”

Early Saturday evening, the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, announced via the social platform X that the warning was in effect for northern Noble County and extreme southern Kay County, an area north of Oklahoma City. “If you are in the path of this storm, seek shelter immediately!” it said.

A subsequent post at 10:05 p.m. said the storms had left the area, but warned of a storm moving across North Texas that could affect parts of south-central Oklahoma.

At 10:24 p.m., the Fort Worth Weather Bureau issued an advisory warning residents of Era and Valley View that they were directly in the path of a possible tornado and should seek shelter immediately. The Fort Worth Weather Bureau issued additional advisories and warnings tracking the storm's movement through midnight, in addition to issuing a severe thunderstorm warning with the possibility of “golf ball-sized hail.”

The weather service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, warned on X of a dangerous storm moving across the northeastern part of the state until 2 a.m. and issued severe weather warnings for communities including Hugo, Boswell, Fort Towson, Grainola, Foraker and Herd.

The Norman office compared conditions Saturday to “a gasoline-soaked brush pile.” Meteorologists said storms could form that could bring large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.

“There's a small chance that most games are duds and we'll only see a few storms today. Still, this isn't a game I want to play. It only takes one storm to make an impact,” it said on Facebook.

South Texas is in for a particularly hot May, with the heat index expected to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations over the weekend. Actual temperatures will be lower, but still in the triple digits, but humidity will make it feel much hotter.

The region is at the northern end of a heat dome that stretches from Mexico to South America, said National Weather Service meteorologist Zack Taylor.

Sunday is expected to be the hottest day, with record temperatures forecast for late May in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas and San Antonio, Taylor said.

Brownsville and Harlingen, near the Texas-Mexico border, set new records for May 25 on Saturday – 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), respectively, according to the weather service.

Red Flag fire warnings were also in effect in West Texas, all of New Mexico, and parts of Oklahoma, Arizona, and Colorado. Humidity was very low at less than 10% and wind gusts of up to 60 mph were measured.

“We have very dry air, high temperatures and strong winds that create high fire danger over large areas … which can lead to rapidly spreading or uncontrollable fires,” Taylor said.

Meanwhile, several centimeters of snow fell from Friday to Saturday in Rolla, North Dakota, about 10 miles from the Canadian border.

April and May were months with many tornadoes, especially in the Midwest. Climate change is increasing the severity of storms worldwide.

In April, the United States second highest number of tornadoes recorded so far. According to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, the country is already 25% ahead of the average number of tornadoes in 2024.

Iowa was hit hard this week when a deadly tornado devastated Greenfield, and other storms brought flooding and storm damage to other parts of the state.

The storm system that caused the severe weather is expected to move east over the Memorial Day weekend, bringing rain that could delay the Indianapolis 500 auto race in Indiana on Sunday, as well as more severe storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

Meteorologists expect the threat of severe weather to move to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday.

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