At Least 4 Dead In Texas After Severe Storms Bring Tornadoes And Tennis
Ball-sized Hail To Western And Central US

All residents have been accounted for after a tornado ravaged a small
town in northwest Texas, killing four people and injuring 10 Wednesday
night, officials said.

The search, however, continues as crews look for possible visitors or
drivers who were in the area when the tornado hit, Texas Department of
Public Safety Sergeant Johnny Bures said Thursday.

The deadly tornado struck Matador, a town of a few hundred people roughly
a 280-mile drive northwest of Dallas, Wednesday evening, the National
Weather Service office in Lubbock said.

The twister came as powerful storms pummeled parts of the western and
central US and at least 11 tornado reports were made across the western
and central US, including six in Colorado, three in Texas, one in Wyoming
and one in Nebraska, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
A Houston Astros fan uses a hand fan to keep cool while waiting to enter
Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, for a baseball game against the
Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, June 17, 2023.

Millions under extreme heat alerts in the South and Southwest as hundreds
of thousands without power

The fatalities included an elderly woman who died in her home, Mayor Pro
Tempore Dvonna Grundy told CNN.

�The Town of Matador has experienced an unprecedented tornado bringing
damaging winds to the town,� the Lubbock Fire Rescue post stated. �There
are four confirmed fatalities & ten total injuries. Seven of which were
transported by EMS and three by personal vehicle.�

The tornado destroyed Grundy�s home � leaving her without clothes or
medicine � and scattered or killed much of the livestock she kept on her
property, she said.

�It�s completely gone,� Grundy said, adding all of her chickens were gone
and most of her cattle and horses were dead.

Rough weather continues Thursday, with more than 42 million people under
at least a marginal risk of severe weather from Wyoming to Texas and in
parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, the Storm Prediction Center
said.
Search and rescue teams look for survivors in a former Dollar General
after a tornado in Matador, Texas, on June 22, 2023.
Search and rescue teams look for survivors in a former Dollar General
after a tornado in Matador, Texas, on June 22, 2023.
Annie Rice/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal/AP

Crews and law enforcement from as far as Wichita Falls have responded to
Matador to help with search efforts, Bures said. Lubbock Fire Rescue is
assisting Matador and posted photos of the devastation on social media,
including one of an American flag wrapped around debris.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday updated the state�s disaster
declaration following the Matador tornado.

�The disaster declaration will continue to support Texas� response and
recovery efforts to extensive damages in 21 Texas counties, including the
following counties added today: Motley, Nolan, Fisher, Jones, Kent, and
Stonewall counties,� an announcement from the governor�s office said.

People in Texas and Oklahoma are also battling extreme temperatures this
week � above 100 degrees in some areas � even as hundreds of thousands
are without power following devastating storms

Wednesday�s deadly tornado marked the second such disaster in Texas in
less than a week. A tornado killed at least three people and injured
dozens of others in the Texas Panhandle city of Perryton, about 180 miles
north of Matador, on June 15, authorities said.

Nearly 100 people attending a concert Wednesday evening at the Red Rocks
Amphitheatre near Denver were injured after being pelted with hail during
severe storms that moved across the area, the West Metro Fire Department
said.

At least seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening
injuries, the fire department said in a tweet. Up to 90 people were
treated on scene, the department said. Injuries included cuts and broken
bones, the tweet said.
Storms bring massive hail, power outages

Wednesday�s storms battered parts of the western and central US with
large hail and lashing winds, the prediction service said.

Tennis ball-sized hail � around 2.75 inches � was reported in several
cities in Colorado and Texas on Wednesday, including in Matador. In
Jayton, Texas, a 4-inch hailstone was reported.

Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses were without power overnight in Texas
and Oklahoma, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. Power is not
expected to be back until Friday or Saturday if �everything goes
smoothly,� Bures said in a Thursday morning news conference.

�The substation was damaged, and that was a big part of why the power was
out, too,� Bures said.

A donation center has been set up near the town�s school, Bures said.

Multiple agencies are working to ensure everyone is accounted for and
assess the damage left behind by the tornado, and drones will be used to
map the tornado�s path, he said.

Severe thunderstorm watches were in effect early Thursday for more than
15 million people in the region, including those in Houston, Texas, and
Denver, Colorado.
Texans battle dueling heat and severe storms

Many Texans are grappling with a double whammy of destructive storms and
record-breaking temperatures this week.

More than 20 million people are under heat alerts across Texas and New
Mexico and record-breaking temperatures are expected to continue.

High temperatures in the low-90s are expected Thursday and Friday in
Matador, with Saturday�s high set to surpass 100 degrees, according to
the National Weather Service.

Without power, some residents will have to endure the heat without air
conditioning, so a senior citizen center in Matador has been designated
as a cooling place, Bures said.

This is what happens to your body when temperatures soar

Texas is among a handful of southern states that have seen triple-digit
temperatures in recent days. On Wednesday, the southern Texas cities of
Laredo and McAllen saw record highs of 114 and 107 degrees, respectively.

�Temperatures this afternoon will climb into the mid 90s to near 100
degrees across the eastern half of the area and top out between 100 and
108 across the western Concho Valley and northern Edwards Plateau,� the
National Weather Service office in San Angelo said.

When you consider the actual temperature combined with the humidity
levels, the heat index, or �feels like� temperature, will hover around
110 degrees.

Some heat alerts are set to expire as conditions slowly improve Thursday
evening, providing a small reprieve.

The relief will be short-lived, however. Sweltering temperatures are
expected to return Sunday and last into next week.