A powerful tornado killed four people and injured 10 more while causing catastrophic damage to the town of Matador, Texas, on Wednesday night.
“The western part of town has been pretty much wiped out,” city official Brandon Moore told the Washington Post.
A devastating line of storms unleashed at least three tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and tennis ball-sized hail across West Texas on Wednesday night.
But the worst damage was felt in Matador, a town of around 570 people that lies about 65 miles northeast of Lubbock. The town was left without power or water as emergency responders tried to take stock of the destruction.
“You would look on one side where we had a general merchandise store completely flattened to the ground but across the street, there’s a house that’s still standing and the vehicles haven’t even moved from the driveway,” Lubbock Fire Rescue spokesman Derek Delgado said.
The supercell storm developed about 90 miles north near Amarillo around 8 p.m. and roared across the plains before spawning the tornado that flattened Matador.
National Weather Service forecaster Matt Ziebell called it “a rare combination of high-end wind shear and storms of extreme instability.”
No one had been reported missing on Thursday morning, though emergency crews continued search and rescue efforts throughout the day.
In Motley County, which includes Matador, and nearby Kent County, an estimated 75% of people were without power Thursday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
The massive storm system was felt from Denver to Houston on Wednesday night. A 97 mph wind gust was measured at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, a new record for the city. Outside Denver, seven people were hospitalized and dozens more injured in a hail storm at Red Rocks Amphitheater.