May 9, 2015: In this photo provided by Brian Khoury, a tornado touches down in Cisco, Texas. One person was killed Saturday night and another left in critical condition after the tornado hit Cisco, a rural farming and ranch area about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. (Brian Khoury via AP)
At least two dozen people were injured and several homes were completely destroyed after a severe storm struck a small town in northeast Texas late Sunday.
The National Weather Service reported that the storm that hit the eastern part of Van Zandt County and the town of Van at approximately 8:45 p.m. local time likely produced at least one tornado. NWS crews wre scheduled to survey the area after daybreak Monday.
Chuck Allen, the Van Zandt County fire marshal and emergency management coordinator, said in an email to the Associated Press early Monday that approximately 26 patients were transported to hospitals after a triage area was established at a church. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
Allen added that approximately 30 percent of the town of approximately 2,500 people 70 miles southeast of Dallas suffered damage ranging from "completely destroyed homes, damaged homes, to trees and power lines down." He also said that emergency officials were going door-to-door to search for additional injured people.
Utility companies are working to restore "vital infrastructures," and road and bridge crews are working to open streets and highways to allow for first responder access. Allen said the American Red Cross planned to open a shelter at First Baptist Church in Van, while the Van Independent School District said on its website schools would be closed Monday.
The storm that hit Van was one of many that swept across north Texas and other parts of the Plains on Sunday, causing reports of tornadoes and heavy flooding.
Earlier, Denton County Deputy Fire Marshal Marc Dodd said a Texas National Guard helicopter airlifted four adults and one infant on Sunday from the roof of their home near the city of Krum.
Dodd says another helicopter rescued two adults near the city of Sanger from the roof of their pickup truck, which video showed was surrounded by rushing water. Ten others in the county had to evacuate their homes.
National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Staley told AP that some locations in North Texas have gotten between six and seven inches of rain over the past four days.
Denton County officials also said that they believed a tornado passed through Denton, a city of around 110,000 around 40 miles northwest of Dallas. Jody Gonzalez, chief of Denton County Emergency Services, says the storm moved through the area so fast Sunday afternoon that it caused "very limited damage." He says some signs were blown over and some trees damaged. There were no reports of casualties.
Television footage showed portions of some industrial roofs ripped off. Elsewhere in the region, the storm played havoc with travel as Dallas airport officials said that more than 400 flights were canceled as a result of the storms while 42 others were diverted.
About 100 miles west of Fort Worth, people in the sparsely populated ranching and farming community of Cisco were left to clean up from Saturday's tornado that left one person dead and another in critical condition. Cisco Fire Department spokesman Phillip Truitt said the two people were near each other.
The National Weather Service said that tornado was rated an EF-3, with winds ranging from 136 to 165 mph. At least six buildings were damaged south of Cisco, as well as six others near Lake Leon, Truitt said.
Tornadoes were also reported in Iowa, where a roof was ripped off a high school, and in eastern South Dakota, where a twister damaged the small town of Delmont and injured at least nine people.
"Our house is flat. There is nothing left," said Stephanie Lunder, 34, of Delmont. She was with her husband and four children in the basement when the storm hit.
The town about 90 miles southwest of Sioux Falls had no water, power or phones, South Dakota Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Kristi Turman said. The 200-plus residents were asked to leave for safety reasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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