Tornadoes In The South: Texas Residents Struck By Multiple Storms That Leave At Least 6 Dead

UPDATE: 9:30 a.m. EST: The death toll from deadly storms in North Texas rose to 11 Sunday, the Dallas Morning News reported. Eight of the deaths occurred in Garland, where 15 also were injured.

UPDATE: 6:20 a.m. EST — The storm system that unleashed multiple tornadoes across Texas Saturday, claiming eight lives, is expected to leave up to 16 inches of snow in west Texas and New Mexico by Sunday evening, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned.

“It’s going to be quite dangerous for anyone exposed to these elements,” Brendon Rubin-Oster, a meteorologist with NWS, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

High winds could reportedly drive the wind-chill factor as low as 10 below zero and cause snow drifts several feet high. A blizzard warning continues through noon Monday.

UPDATE: 12:10 a.m. EST — Tornadoes have now claimed eight lives in the Dallas area of north Texas, reported NBC Dallas Fort-Worth, quoting the police. Five deaths were reported from Garland, two from Copeville and one from Blue Ridge.

UPDATE: 11 p.m. EST— Texas authorities confirmed that two people died when a gas station in Copeville was destroyed in one of the storms that barreled through the state Saturday evening, NBC 5 Dallas Fort-Worth reported.

That brought the death toll to six, after tornadoes, flash floods and other storms were reported in north Texas. At least 40 homes have been destroyed, officials from the Ellis County Emergency Management Agency said.

Original story:

Multiple tornadoes were reported ripping through northern Texas Saturday evening, destroying homes and causing damage as the region also prepared for a “historic” blizzard, local media reported.

At least four people were confirmed dead in the city of Garland in a storm-related incident and 50,000 were left without power, the Dallas Morning News reported. The National Weather Service reported two separate tornadoes in Mesquite and outside Wylie, and another was reported near Farmersville in Collin County. The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was closed for about an hour after the National Weather Service in Fort Worth reported a tornado south of Dallas.

The number of tornadoes and the full extent of their damage will not become clear until daylight on Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Anthony Bain told the Associated Press. Meanwhile, forecasters told CNN they predicted snow, sleet and freezing rain to sweep through western and northwestern Texas, dumping 10 to 18 inches of snow throughout Sunday evening.

The southern states have been plagued by a storm system that followed days of unusually warm weather this week, fueling a rash of tornadoes, flash floods and thunderstorms that left at least 18 people dead across three states by Saturday afternoon, USA Today reported. Tornadoes prompted states of emergency to be declared in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee.