TEXAS — Texans are picking up the pieces after tornadoes tore through parts of the state on Monday, destroying homes and damaging businesses and schools.
One death in Texas has been attributed to a tornado. The National Weather Service, which has released some preliminary data, reports 20 tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma Monday.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed a disaster declaration that includes 16 Texas counties. They are: Bastrop, Cass, Cooke, Grayson, Guadalupe, Houston, Jack, Madison, Marion, Montague, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Upshur, Williamson, and Wise.
Some of the hardest hit cities in Texas include Round Rock in Williamson County, Elgin in Travis and Bastrop counties and Jacksboro in Jacks County, where storms caused “catastrophic” damage to two schools.
According to the NBC television affiliate for the DFW area, a 73-year-old Grayson County woman was killed when a tornado hit her neighborhood.
The declaration frees up state resources to aid the affected.
According to preliminary data from the NWS, a tornado that struck Jacksboro was an EF-3, with maximum wind speeds of 150 mph. A tornado that struck Carrollton in Dallas County was rated an EF-0, with maximum wind speeds of 85 mph.
More information is anticipated in the near future.