A storm system swept through Texas on Thursday evening, injuring dozens of people in a tornado that flattened a mobile home park in the state’s Panhandle, according to local officials, as well as images shared on social media and local media reports.
At the same time, millions of Texans were bracing for widespread heat that officials warned would most likely last for days, break records and raise the risk of wildfires and heat-related illnesses.
The tornado was on the ground in Perryton, a city about 115 miles northeast of Amarillo, shortly after 5 p.m., said Trent Hoffeditz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Amarillo. The tornado, he said, went through the town and “devastated” it. “Other than that, we have no other details,” Mr. Hoffeditz said.
The heat contributed to the storm by destabilizing the atmosphere, he said.
Between 50 to 75 patients, with injuries ranging from cuts to traumas were treated at the Ochiltree General Hospital in Perryton, Kelly Judice, the hospital’s administrator said by phone.
The hospital transferred about 10 patients with life-threatening injuries to larger facilities in Amarillo, Ms. Judice said, adding that there had been no fatalities at her hospital.
The hospital, which is south of central Perryton, was spared any impact from the tornado, Ms. Judice said.
Videos and photographs posted to social media appeared to show flattened buildings, flooding and damaged vehicles.
A mobile home park in the city took a “direct hit,” with at least 30 trailers damaged or destroyed, Perryton’s fire chief, Paul Dutcher, told the local news station ABC7 Amarillo. As of 6 p.m., firefighters were still rescuing people from the rubble, he said.
Barry Nusz, a storm chaser based in Amarillo, Texas, said he was about 10 miles east of Perryton as the tornado was approaching. “It became obvious it was going to tornado and it just turned from a bowl into a big tornado that planted on to the ground,” Mr. Nusz said. “But it quickly wrapped in rain,” he added. “We lost sight of it.”
Mr. Nusz said that two other tornadoes appeared to be approaching from the south, which he watched for about 20 minutes before following them east.
The Texas Department of Public Safety was responding to assist with traffic control and other needs of city and county officials, Cindy Barkley, a spokeswoman for the department, said by phone. The Ochiltree County Sheriff’s Office said it could not provide information about the extent of the damage, or whether anyone had been injured.
Earlier Thursday, heat advisories were in effect for more than 30 million people in Texas, as well as Florida and Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service. Many of those affected were in southern and eastern Texas, and some of the advisories were scheduled to remain in effect through Friday night.
Parts of Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, were expected to see heat index readings of 105 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday or Friday, the Weather Service said in one advisory. An index of up to 119 degrees was possible in some southern countries, the agency said early Thursday. The heat index measures how hot it feels outside, accounting for temperature and humidity.
High temperatures in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are forecast to stay in the upper 90s through the weekend, but by early next week, the region could hit 100 for the first time this year, according to the Weather Service.
On average, the Dallas-Fort Worth area sees its first 100-degree day by July 1, but in years past, temperatures have reached the triple digits earlier in the year, according to the Weather Service.
Madi Gordon, a meteorologist with the Weather Service branch in Fort Worth, Texas, said on Thursday that “intense heat” was forecast to arrive earlier than average to North Texas.
“It’s not that uncommon,” she added.
Later this week or early next week, the heat index in South Texas and the western Gulf Coast could rise as high as 120 degrees, the agency said in a forecast. Some daily high temperature records may fall, it added, and the weather could pose health risks for people who spend extended time outdoors or without air conditioning.
Across parts of Texas, the Salvation Army was opening several cooling stations, where people could escape the heat during the day.
There was also the potential for severe stormsin parts of Texas and the Southeastern United States. Tornado warnings and watches were in effect Thursday evening for dozens of counties across Oklahoma and Texas, according to the National Weather Service, which warned of the potential for baseball-sized hail, flying debris and flash flooding.
The Weather Service said that the hot and humid weather conditions could allow “any storms to become severe” on Thursday.
Parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas were also expected to experience an above-average risk of wildfires, with dry heat and little moisture, on Thursday and Friday, according to the Weather Service.
It’s not unusual for officials in Texas to issue heat advisories around this time of year, said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s San Antonio office. They typically do so when high temperatures combine with other factors, including high humidity and westerly winds that blow hot air from high-altitude deserts, he added.
In this case, Mr. Oaks said, the humidity is high because Texas had a wetter and stormier spring than usual. That has left parts of the state looking lusher than they normally do in June, he said. But it also means that the hot ground is “cooking a lot of the moisture” and releasing it into the air.
“We’re not off the charts hot,” he added, speaking by phone late on Wednesday night. “We’re kind of normally hot after a long period of fairly mild weather in the months of April and May.”
Electricity demand is expected to rise in the state later this week because of the hot weather, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages about 90 percent of the state’s electricity load, said in a statement on Wednesday night. But there is enough supply to meet the demand, the company added, and it does not expect an “energy emergency.”
Global warming is making dangerously hot weather more common, and more extreme, on every continent.
In Texas and neighboring Mexico, it is making the levels of heat forecast over the next few days at least five times more likely, according to an analysis on Wednesday by Climate Central, a nonprofit research collaboration of scientists and journalists.
Jesus Jiménez contributed reporting.
