106 Counties Placed Under Disaster Declaration as Severe Storms Rip Through Texas

Damage at a truck stop the morning after a tornado rolled through Valley View, Texas, on May 26, 2024. Julio Cortez/AP Photo

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a disaster declaration for 106 counties after severe weather and powerful storms swept through much of the state over the weekend, destroying hundreds of homes.

These counties include Denton, Montague, Cooke, and Collin. At least seven people were killed and more than 100 people were injured due to the severe storms in north Texas, Mr. Abbott said on Sunday.

The extreme weather destroyed over 200 homes and structures and damaged more than 220 buildings across the state. Mr. Abbott, a Republican, said the number of casualties could rise as further assessments are conducted.

“I saw the harrowing video inside the Valley View gas station as the tornado passed through with the people stockpiled in there clinging to safety,” Mr. Abbott said at a press briefing. “It truly is a miracle that everybody made it through the devastation that destroyed the gas station, that they made it out alive,” the governor added.

The City of Denton Fire Department said that it was sending rescue teams and medics to Marina Circle at Lake Ray Roberts, where there were “multiple victims,” with “some reported trapped” after severe weather struck the area overnight.

Lake Ray Roberts Marina stated on social media that it was assessing the damage resulting from the “horrible storms.” Many boat houses, boats, fuel docks, and offices had been heavily damaged by the “large tornado,” a spokesperson said in a post on the marina’s Facebook page.

“There is so much damage, we don’t even know where to start. Most RVs were turned over with several people trapped inside. All were rescued with no known serious injuries.”

The National Weather Service (NWS) rated the tornado that hit Forestburg in Montague County as an EF-2, with winds reaching up to 125 mph, and the tornado that hit Valley View in Cooke County as an EF-2, with maximum winds of 135 mph.

“We know that there was a long track supercell that produced multiple tornadoes. We will have details on exactly how many tornadoes occurred over the next several days as we wrap up surveys,” the NWS stated on X.

The Storm Prediction Center has warned that “strong tornadoes” accompanied by large hail and damaging winds exceeding 75 mph could impact several areas in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and Kentucky.

A “particularly dangerous situation tornado watch” has been issued for these regions, warning that “several tornadoes and few intense” were likely to occur. The watch went into effect on Sunday, the agency stated on social media.

By late Sunday, tens of thousands of residents were without power across the entire region, including more than 80,000 customers in Arkansas and more than 90,000 in neighboring Missouri. Texas reported 27,000 outages, while 3,000 were reported in Oklahoma, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.

Eight people died statewide in Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a news conference on Sunday. An emergency official said two of the deaths were attributed to the circumstances of the storm but were not directly caused by the weather. One person suffered a heart attack, and another was deprived of oxygen due to a loss of electricity.

Ms. Sanders declared a state of emergency on May 26 to support the communities affected by the severe weather and tornadoes.

Volunteers walk through the destroyed Lake Ray Roberts Marina RV Park, on May 26, 2024. Michael Clements/The Epoch Times

The storms also killed two people and destroyed houses in Oklahoma’s Mayes County, east of Tulsa, where the injured included guests at an outdoor wedding.

A man in Louisville, Kentucky, was killed on Sunday when a tree fell on him, police said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg confirmed on social media that it was a storm-related death.

Michael Clements contributed to this report.