Today, 50 million people are under severe storm warning while one Texas town scrapes out after a horrific tornado.
More than 50 million people over a huge section of the United States are under severe weather warnings Friday, one day after storms wreaked havoc in Texas and Florida.
According to the fire chief, three people were murdered in Perryton, Texas, when a devastating tornado struck the town on Thursday. The hurricane also brought up to 100 individuals in the Texas Panhandle town to the hospital with injuries ranging from head wounds to abrasions, according to the interim CEO of Ochiltree General Hospital.
In Florida, a person died after becoming trapped under a tree that fell on their home, according to Escambia County officials.
The National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, reported early on Friday that the county, which includes Pensacola, experienced flash flooding incidents overnight that necessitated high water rescues.
Escambia County Emergency Management said that "widespread and significant" flash flooding was still occurring in West Pensacola, Warrington, and Gulf Breeze. Emergency personnel said that "many roadways remain flooded with water entering several structures."
Friday morning, county officials said that over 150 inhabitants of a Pensacola apartment complex were relocated amidst the rising water and transferred to a community center for refuge.
In just three hours, Warrington, which is close to Pensacola, received about a foot of rain. Up to 16 inches of rain, according to radar estimates, poured overnight, and more is forecast on Friday. The neighbourhood is under a flash flood watch till 7 o'clock.
There is a level 2 of 5 small chance of severe storms for regions of the South, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Plains, which includes many of the areas that had severe weather on Thursday.
The slight risk zones, which include Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama, Little Rock in Arkansas, Jackson in Mississippi, and Tallahassee in Florida, are susceptible to large hail, destructive winds, and tornadoes.
From South Dakota to Florida and for sections of the Mid-Atlantic, a sizable zone that includes hard-hit Perryton, a level 1 of 5 danger is in effect. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Denver, and Jacksonville, Florida are among the other cities in the moderate risk area that might experience significant hail and destructive winds.
The storm that raced through Perryton destroyed houses and businesses, including the local fire station and EMS, as well as many mobile homes, according to Fire Chief Paul Dutcher, who added that many of the department's trucks were damaged.
"A tornado formed and dropped on us." It appeared out of nowhere. "There were no sirens, no time to get to a shelter," Jamie James of Perryton said, explaining that she had to ride out the storm in her pickup.
"There were times when I thought I was going to die," she admitted. "Everything went insane. Dumpsters were flying everywhere, and hailstones were pelting the automobile."
Although James' house is still intact, the building adjacent to it has been demolished. She described the storm as a terrible blow to the city where she has resided for 15 years. "There are so many excellent individuals in this community... We keep an eye out for one another."
According to Xcel Energy, the city's power facilities were shut down for safety reasons.
"Transmission lines supplying the city with electricity have sustained damage, and many lower voltage distribution lines are down in the city," stated Wes Reeves, an Xcel Energy representative.
"Xcel Energy employees are working hard to keep Perryton residents and first responders safe." "An estimated restoration time is not yet available," he said.
According to the tracking website Poweroutage.us, more than 220,000 homes and businesses in Texas were without power as of 3 a.m. CT. More than 130,000 people in neighbouring Louisiana were without power, while outages were also recorded in Oklahoma, Florida, and Alabama.
A press release from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott states that the state's emergency resources have been sent to Perryton, Texas, to "meet urgent life-safety needs."
In the statement, the governor said, "We remain prepared to promptly provide any additional resources required over the course of this severe weather event."
The city is receiving much-needed support thanks to the influx of resources from the region.
According to the county's emergency manager Keith Shadden, authorities in Beaver County, Oklahoma, dispatched fire, police enforcement, and EMS units to assist.
Officials from the neighbouring city of Stinnett, Texas, started deploying cops and EMS teams as well. Following the "devastating tornado," the sheriff's office in Hutchinson County, which contains Stinnett, also dispatched rescue and emergency operations, according to a Facebook post from the agency.
Staff at adjacent hospitals also assisted up to 100 individuals when the storm struck, according to Ochiltree General Hospital Interim CEO Kelly Judice.
"A few of them took patients to their hospitals, but most of the staff just stayed here and worked," she explained.
According to the National Weather Service, there were two tornado reports in Texas on Thursday, four in Oklahoma, and one in Michigan, with the tornado near Perryton being the most severe.
The tornado, which had been verified by the NWS, ripped across several of Perryton's main streets.
"It literally hit residential, downtown, and industrial," storm chaser Brian Emfinger explained.
The biggest damage he observed was in the northwest side of town, as the tornado slammed into a mobile home park immediately in its path, Emfinger recounted.