Officials were assessing damage Thursday and continuing recovery efforts after a tornado killed at least four people in the north Texas town of Matador amid a brutal heat wave.
A line of severe storms produced what a local fire department called an “unprecedented tornado” that ripped through the town. Meteorologists said the storm system caused an unusual combination of multiple tornadoes, hurricane-force winds topping 100 mph and large hail.
“That is certainly rare to see all at the same time, killer tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and softball-size hail,” said Matt Zeibell, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Lubbock, Texas.
This week in Texas, the National Weather Service has been warning of a dangerously intense heat wave that’s been settled over much of the state for days on end. Over the weekend, most of the state was under an excessive heat warning and residents were told to stay indoors.
On Thursday, temperatures in the southern corner of the Lone Star state are expected to reach about 110 degrees, and heat indexes could hit as high as 125 in some areas, the weather service is warning.
More than 500 customers remained without power Thursday morning in Motley County, where Matador is located, according to poweroutage.us. Farther south, over 1,000 people were without power Thursday morning in Fisher County.
The devastating storm came less than a week after tornadoes killed residents of Perryton, Texas, in the state’s panhandle.
Matador, which has a population of under 600 people, is about 70 miles northeast of Lubbock, the home of Texas Tech University.
4 killed by tornadoes in northwest Texas
Wednesday’s storm system developed about 8 p.m. near Amarillo, Texas, before striking Matador, killing four people, the Lubbock fire department said Thursday morning on Facebook.
At least 10 people were also injured in northwest Texas, the department said. Officials said seven were taken to local hospitals by EMS and three arrived in their own cars.
The Town of Matador has experienced an unprecedented tornado bringing damaging winds to the town. There are four confirmed fatalities & ten total… | By Lubbock Fire Rescue | Facebook
Lubbock’s fire chief Shaun Fogerson told the Avalanche-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, that emergency responders were given orders to assist in freeing trapped residents from “collapsed structures.”
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, William Iwasko, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Lubbock, had said there had been three confirmed tornadoes in the line of storms, but it appeared the one in Matador was the only one that caused significant damage.
On Thursday morning, a USA TODAY Network reporter in Lubbock said on Twitter resident of Matador scrambled to protect themselves from the tornado in a matter of minutes.
For one local, there was “no warning” before the storm hit, Avalanche-Journal breaking news reporter Mateo Rosiles tweeted Thursday.
Widespread damage in remote part of Texas
Video footage shows crumbled vehicles lying on their sides and piles of flattened debris and branches lining the ground as emergency responders accessed damage Wednesday night in Matador.
Gas pumps that were blown crooked could be seen leaning off their bases and billboard signs for local businesses appeared to have been ripped out of their frames, footage from the Associated Press shows.
Reports from storm chasers and meteorologists on social media also showed considerable damage around Matador: damaged homes, utility lines, trees and infrastructure.
Ziebell said thunderstorms were likely to continue Thursday, but the risk of severe weather with tornadoes was unlikely.
Wednesday’s tornado outbreak came six days after a tornado left three people dead and more than 100 injured in Perryton in the northern Texas Panhandle.
Matador tornado strikes less than a week after deadly Perryton twister
On June 15, another tornado tore through the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, killing three people, hospitalizing more than 50 and destroying some parts of the town’s main downtown area.
A total of more than 100 people were injured by the tornado that struck Perryton, which is north of Matador, located just south of the Oklahoma state line.
The roof of a bank in Lavon, Texas, collapsed after storms rolled through the area on Thursday evening, according to footage shared on social media. The town is over 400 miles away from Perryton, near Dallas. ABC News journalist Mike Forbes posted a video to Twitter of a branch of Independent Financial bank that was decimated by the storm.
In the video, the roof of a large wing of the bank building can be seen lying on the ground.
Tornadoes, thunderstorms come amid excessive heat warnings in Texas
Wednesday’s storms came days after a massive heat wave settled over most of the rest of the state, bringing heat indexes expected to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.
Earlier this week, meteorologists warned bands of severe weather, including tornadoes, would likely form along the edges of the massive heat dome, in places such as north Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Over the weekend, more than 25 million Americans were under the excessive heat warnings, and residents of Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi faced some of the worst heat forecasts.
Contributing: Adam D. Young, Mateo Rosiles, Brandi D. Addison, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; Associated Press
