Tornado kills 3 in Collin County (Updated)
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Emergency crews used heat-seeking sensors and search dogs Wednesday as they looked for victims of at least one tornado that roared across northern Collin County late Tuesday.
Three people were killed and 10 others were hospitalized with injuries related to the violent storm.
An elderly couple was found dead in a destroyed home in Westminster. They were identified as Mary Ellen Newsom, 80, and Harris Newsom, 82.
A teenager who was found dead at a separate location had not been identified as of early Wednesday afternoon.
The twister touched down in a rural area along FM 3133 north of Westminster, Collin County Fire Marshal Steve Deffibaugh said. The damage was concentrated in an eight-mile corridor that started north of Anna and passed through Westminster on its way to Van Alstyne.
"There is a possibility that we may find more victims," he added. "We're setting up an emergency telephone line. Many people abandoned their homes; some left notes there but others didn't."
Deffibaugh said the storm destroyed 26 homes; six other houses sustained major damage.
At noon Wednesday, the cleanup was continuing. "It's staggering," said WFAA-TV reporter Justin Farmer from Westminster. "We've just a few moments ago got into the real damaged area where homes have been destroyed. One home has been lifted from its foundations. A mattress has been wrapped around what's left of a telephone pole."
Deffibaugh said more than 100 people were treated for minor injuries.
"It sounded like a regular thunderstorm, then it went crazy," said Cathy Dotson, who huddled on the floor with her 13- and 10-year-old grandchildren when the tornado hit about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. "I could actually feel my house move. I looked outside my window, and all I could see was gray."
Police had blocked off the road leading to the elderly couple's neighborhood Wednesday.
Westminster resident Dennis Lee was checking on a neighbor's welfare just minutes before a twister destroyed his rented home. "I could hear it overhead," he said. "When the trees started bending, I knew it was time to go back inside and find a safe spot."
Only a bathtub and part of one wall of Lee's 900-square-foot house was left standing in the wake of the devastating winds.
"Somebody was looking after me," Lee said as he surveyed the scene. "This is just part of life; it's just something you have to deal with."
"Several houses were completely destroyed," Hornsby said. She noted that most of the area in the path of the storm was sparsely populated farmland.
In Anna,
WFAA.com mobile journalist Aaron Chimbel reported trees down. A larger, older tree was uprooted and fell on top of a shed. At least one injury and power outages were also reported in the area.
The American Red Cross set up a shelter for storm victims at the Anna High School gymnasium.
"We've taken our first look at what appear to be the hardest hit areas here," said the organization's Anita Foster. "I'm sure television pictures aren't even going to show the reality that these families went through. Even more important than ever is our commitment to get mental health counselors here. I can't imagine the sheer terror these families went through."
The number of tornadoes and their strength would not be known until National Weather Service officials survey the damage Wednesday.
Severe thunderstorms continued throughout early Wednesday morning in parts of North Texas after the Tuesday night tornadoes.
In northeastern Texas, a thunderstorm watch was extended until 3 a.m. Nickel-sized hail and gusting winds of 50 to 60 mph could be expected with the storm, said Channel 8's chief weather anchor Troy Dungan.
A new storm that hit Grayson County was forecast to bring possible pea-sized hail, and a severe thunderstorm watch was issued until 6 a.m Wednesday.
While tornado warnings were issued for Collin, Fannin, Lamar and Red River counties as storms passed through that were responsible for heavy damage throughout the area, no thunderstorms were forecast to target the immediate Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday morning.
At 10:31 p.m., storm spotters and doppler radar observed a large tornado 15 miles northeast of McKinney, moving east at 20 mph.
While the storm at one point lost some of its structure as it passed through Leonard and Bailey around 11 p.m., it began to grow again as it headed to Honey Grove around 11:15.
Trained storm spotters said they saw rotation five miles south of Paris around 11:30 p.m. after doppler radar detected a developing tornado in the area moving east at 35 mph.
An area of FM 2862 at County Road 477 in the Westminister and Anna area was closed to traffic. Ambulances were at the scene and witnesses in the area reported damage to cars and homes.
Dallas Morning News staff writers Scott Farwell, Jon Nielsen, Paul Meyer and David Renfrow, WFAA-TV reporters Steve Stoler in Westminster and Dan Ronan in Van Alstyne and WFAA.com mobile journalist Aaron Chimbel in Anna and editors Marjorie Owens in Dallas and Walt Zwirko in Little Elm and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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