Heavy storms damaged parts of North Texas on Monday, injuring at least four people, officials said. Tornado warnings – meaning the tornado was spotted or detected by weather radar – were in effect in some areas of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on Monday night. according to National Weather Service.
Officials reported damage throughout Jacksboro, about 60 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Images summarized from CBS Dallas-Fort Worth showed damage to the wall and roof from parts of Jacksborough High School, especially its gym, and parts of Jacksborough Elementary School. Witnesses also told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth that the storm hit a local animal shelter.
Lee Anderson
Thirty miles northeast of Jacksboro, near Bowie, it is reported that damage was also widespread with reports of some people being trapped by collapsed structures. City manager Bert Cunningham said the most damage had been done east of the city: as many as four seizures had been reported. Four people were slightly injured, emergency manager Kelly McNab said.
The storm system was predicted to bring strong tornadoes and heavy hail to some parts of Texas on Monday and then move toward the deep south, where forecasters warned that a Tuesday outbreak of severe weather is possible.
In some areas of central and east Texas, especially in the Austin and College Station areas, hurricane-force winds of 75 mph could be observed on Monday, as well as hail the size of a baseball and several tornadoes, according to the Norman Storm Forecasting Center. Oklahoma.
The rain was expected to bring relief to some areas of Texas affected by forest firesbut windy weather was expected.
A “regional outbreak of severe weather” could occur in the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama areas on Tuesday, according to the Storm Forecasting Center. On Tuesday in this area, including in the cities of Batan Rouge and Jackson, Mississippi, there may be heavy tornadoes, forecasters said.
Federal and Louisiana authorities have reminded thousands of hurricane survivors living in government-provided mobile homes and holiday trailers to have an evacuation plan because the structures may not withstand the expected weather.
More than 8,000 families live in such temporary facilities, Bob Howard, a spokesman for the Joint Information Center of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness of the Governor of Louisiana, said Monday.
A joint statement from the agency said that the greatest damage could be caused by floods.
“Recurrences of heavy rainfall may occur in the same areas, increasing the risk of flooding,” the statement said. “Go to higher places when you hear flood warnings.”
Nearly 1,800 households in trailers provided directly by FEMA are yet to return to homes damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020, according to a press release last week. Another 1,600 trailers were deployed to the displaced households of Hurricane Idasaid Howard, and Louisiana has exhibited more than 4,400 RV trailers for Ida victims as part of a test program paid for by FEMA.
Anyone living in public or FEMA temporary housing should keep their cell phones turned on and fully charged, including high-volume and severe weather alerts, the agencies said.
“The greatest danger is expected at night,” they added.
And, as noted in the release, mobile homes and RV trailers are state property that cannot be moved.
