Possible tornadoes hit Texas; 6 dead, dozens injured

Deadly tornado hits Hood County, Texas

Possible tornadoes ripped through north Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 others, officials said.

The fatalities occurred when the storm struck a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood in the Granbury area, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. There were about 120 homes in the neighborhood and most of them were destroyed.

Fourteen people still missing and the death toll could rise, according to Deeds.

 

Deadly tornado hits Texas

About 100 people were injured, said Matt Zavadsky, a spokesman for MedStar Mobile Healthcare.

 

Eva Zapata, left, waits with family member Dario Segura for news of her children, who live in the Granbury, Texas, neighborhood of Rancho Brazos that was evacuated after storms on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

'The darkness doesn't help'

Rescue workers searched for the missing and surveyed the damage in the early morning hours. But the full extent of the damage may not be realized until the sun comes up.

It may have been as many as three tornadoes that walloped the area, officials said.

A tornado may have touched down several times in Hood, Tarrant, Dallas and Parker counties, Zavadsky said.

"With these types of tornadoes, they touch down; they lift up; they touch down. They tend to hopscotch," he said. "The darkness doesn't help, but the crews on scene are doing a really good job to try and reach out to the folks who might be trapped or unable to get to a shelter or the triage area."

There were reports of homes in Granbury being flattened with people inside, Hood County Judge Darrell Cockerham said.

'Traumatic injuries'

Donna Martin, a worker at a local veteran's organization, said some suffered injures.

"There are a lot of traumatic injuries," Martin said. "My husband told me that a car was lifted in the air. It just came in and hit so fast"

City officials were sending school buses to affected neighborhoods to help with evacuations.

The National Weather Service warned that a mile-wide tornado reported by spotters had shifted its track and was moving "right at the city of Cleburne," a community of about 15,000 people in north Texas.

"If you are in its path ... take cover immediately to protect your life," the weather service alert said.

Officials hadn't confirmed that a tornado actually touched down in Dallas but said the storm was capable of producing one.