Tornado causes widespread damage in Texas Panhandle town

Panhandle tornado news, Tornado in Texas 2023: A tornado ripped through the Texas Panhandle town of Perryton on Thursday, killing one person, injuring dozens more and causing widespread damage as another in a series of fierce storms carved its way through the South. The National Weather Service in Amarillo confirmed that a tornado hit the area Thursday afternoon. But there was no immediate word on its size or whether anyone was injured, meteorologist Luigi Meccariello said. "There are still reports of ongoing rescues," he said but didn't have any details.

First responders from surrounding areas and from Oklahoma descended on the town. Storm chaser Brian Emfinger told Fox Weather that he watched the twister move through a mobile home park, mangling trailers and uprooting trees. "I had seen the tornado do some pretty serious destruction to the industrial part of town," he said. "Unfortunately, just west of there, there is just mobile home, after mobile home, after mobile home that is completely destroyed. There is significant damage."

Nearly 50,000 customers were without electricity in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the poweroutage.Us website. By evening, the weather front was moving southeast across Oklahoma. The weather service said a second round of storms would continue to move through that state and portions of Texas through the evening while the risk of severe weather, including tornados, remained for the metropolitan Oklahoma City area.