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   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   At Least 4 Dead In Texas After Severe Storms Bring Tornadoes And Tennis   
   Ball-sized Hail To Western And Central US   
      
      
      
   All residents have been accounted for after a tornado ravaged a small town   
   in northwest Texas, killing four people and injuring 10 Wednesday night,   
   officials said.   
      
   The search, however, continues as crews look for possible visitors or   
   drivers who were in the area when the tornado hit, Texas Department of   
   Public Safety Sergeant Johnny Bures said Thursday.   
      
   The deadly tornado struck Matador, a town of a few hundred people roughly   
   a 280-mile drive northwest of Dallas, Wednesday evening, the National   
   Weather Service office in Lubbock said.   
      
   The twister came as powerful storms pummeled parts of the western and   
   central US and at least 11 tornado reports were made across the western   
   and central US, including six in Colorado, three in Texas, one in Wyoming   
   and one in Nebraska, according to the Storm Prediction Center.   
   A Houston Astros fan uses a hand fan to keep cool while waiting to enter   
   Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, for a baseball game against the   
   Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, June 17, 2023.   
      
   Millions under extreme heat alerts in the South and Southwest as hundreds   
   of thousands without power   
      
   The fatalities included an elderly woman who died in her home, Mayor Pro   
   Tempore Dvonna Grundy told CNN.   
      
   “The Town of Matador has experienced an unprecedented tornado bringing   
   damaging winds to the town,” the Lubbock Fire Rescue post stated. “There   
   are four confirmed fatalities & ten total injuries. Seven of which were   
   transported by EMS and three by personal vehicle.”   
      
   The tornado destroyed Grundy’s home – leaving her without clothes or   
   medicine – and scattered or killed much of the livestock she kept on her   
   property, she said.   
      
   “It’s completely gone,” Grundy said, adding all of her chickens were gone   
   and most of her cattle and horses were dead.   
      
   Rough weather continues Thursday, with more than 42 million people under   
   at least a marginal risk of severe weather from Wyoming to Texas and in   
   parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, the Storm Prediction Center   
   said.   
   Search and rescue teams look for survivors in a former Dollar General   
   after a tornado in Matador, Texas, on June 22, 2023.   
   Search and rescue teams look for survivors in a former Dollar General   
   after a tornado in Matador, Texas, on June 22, 2023.   
   Annie Rice/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal/AP   
      
   Crews and law enforcement from as far as Wichita Falls have responded to   
   Matador to help with search efforts, Bures said. Lubbock Fire Rescue is   
   assisting Matador and posted photos of the devastation on social media,   
   including one of an American flag wrapped around debris.   
      
   Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday updated the state’s disaster   
   declaration following the Matador tornado.   
      
   “The disaster declaration will continue to support Texas’ response and   
   recovery efforts to extensive damages in 21 Texas counties, including the   
   following counties added today: Motley, Nolan, Fisher, Jones, Kent, and   
   Stonewall counties,” an announcement from the governor’s office said.   
      
   People in Texas and Oklahoma are also battling extreme temperatures this   
   week – above 100 degrees in some areas – even as hundreds of thousands are   
   without power following devastating storms   
      
   Wednesday’s deadly tornado marked the second such disaster in Texas in   
   less than a week. A tornado killed at least three people and injured   
   dozens of others in the Texas Panhandle city of Perryton, about 180 miles   
   north of Matador, on June 15, authorities said.   
      
   Nearly 100 people attending a concert Wednesday evening at the Red Rocks   
   Amphitheatre near Denver were injured after being pelted with hail during   
   severe storms that moved across the area, the West Metro Fire Department   
   said.   
      
   At least seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening   
   injuries, the fire department said in a tweet. Up to 90 people were   
   treated on scene, the department said. Injuries included cuts and broken   
   bones, the tweet said.   
   Storms bring massive hail, power outages   
      
   Wednesday’s storms battered parts of the western and central US with large   
   hail and lashing winds, the prediction service said.   
      
   Tennis ball-sized hail – around 2.75 inches – was reported in several   
   cities in Colorado and Texas on Wednesday, including in Matador. In   
   Jayton, Texas, a 4-inch hailstone was reported.   
      
   Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses were without power overnight in Texas   
   and Oklahoma, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. Power is not   
   expected to be back until Friday or Saturday if “everything goes   
   smoothly,” Bures said in a Thursday morning news conference.   
      
      
   “The substation was damaged, and that was a big part of why the power was   
   out, too,” Bures said.   
      
   A donation center has been set up near the town’s school, Bures said.   
      
   Multiple agencies are working to ensure everyone is accounted for and   
   assess the damage left behind by the tornado, and drones will be used to   
   map the tornado’s path, he said.   
      
   Severe thunderstorm watches were in effect early Thursday for more than 15   
   million people in the region, including those in Houston, Texas, and   
   Denver, Colorado.   
   Texans battle dueling heat and severe storms   
      
   Many Texans are grappling with a double whammy of destructive storms and   
   record-breaking temperatures this week.   
      
   More than 20 million people are under heat alerts across Texas and New   
   Mexico and record-breaking temperatures are expected to continue.   
      
   High temperatures in the low-90s are expected Thursday and Friday in   
   Matador, with Saturday’s high set to surpass 100 degrees, according to the   
   National Weather Service.   
      
   Without power, some residents will have to endure the heat without air   
   conditioning, so a senior citizen center in Matador has been designated as   
   a cooling place, Bures said.   
      
      
   This is what happens to your body when temperatures soar   
      
   Texas is among a handful of southern states that have seen triple-digit   
   temperatures in recent days. On Wednesday, the southern Texas cities of   
   Laredo and McAllen saw record highs of 114 and 107 degrees, respectively.   
      
   “Temperatures this afternoon will climb into the mid 90s to near 100   
   degrees across the eastern half of the area and top out between 100 and   
   108 across the western Concho Valley and northern Edwards Plateau,” the   
   National Weather Service office in San Angelo said.   
      
   When you consider the actual temperature combined with the humidity   
   levels, the heat index, or “feels like” temperature, will hover around 110   
   degrees.   
      
   Some heat alerts are set to expire as conditions slowly improve Thursday   
      
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