Several tornadoes touched down in north Texas on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 as the storms destroyed homes, tossed around cars and left tens of thousands without power in the region.
Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds confirmed that six people were killed by the powerful storm, which hit the Rancho Brazos subdivision near Granbury that had largely been built by Habitat for Humanity. Deeds said a twister suddenly dropped out of a thunderstorm and leveled a wide swath of single-family and mobile homes in the 120-house subdivision.
“Most of the neighborhood is heavily damaged to destroyed,” he said. “Very little is untouched.”
Deeds said 28 people were treated at the local hospital and 16 people, including two in critical condition, were transported to hospitals in Fort Worth. Local officials said the injuries range from lost limbs to minor bumps and bruises.
“Some were found in houses. Some were found around houses,” Deeds said. “There was a report that two of these people that they found were not even near their homes. So we’re going to have to search the area out there.”
“With these types of tornadoes, they touch down; they lift up; they touch down. They tend to hopscotch,” he said.
“This is truly breaking news and again, the darkness doesn’t help. But the crews on scene are doing a really good job to try and reach out to the folks that might be trapped or unable to get to a shelter or the triage area.”
In Granbury, the worst-hit city, a tornado demolished two neighborhoods around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Resident Elizabeth Tovar said fist-sized hail announced the tornado’s arrival, prompting her and her family to hide in their bathroom.
“We were all, like, hugging in the bathtub and that’s when it started happening. I heard glass shattering and I knew my house was going,” Tovar said, shaking her head. “We looked up and … the whole ceiling was gone.”
