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A powerful tornado slammed into the southern U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, officials said Saturday, killing at least one person and leaving many missing.
The storm swept through McCurtin County in southeastern Oklahoma on Friday, killing one person and leaving others missing, according to state officials.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said a 90-year-old man was killed in the storm.
“We searched all homes and only one person died,” Stitt said in a video statement posted on Twitter. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
About 50 homes were damaged or destroyed in northern Texas on the border with Oklahoma, the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office said after the tornado hit Friday afternoon.
“Ten people have been treated at the Paris Regional Medical Center, two of whom are in critical but stable condition,” it said in a statement on Facebook. “There are currently no casualties.”
It added that Lamar County Judge Brandon Bell declared a disaster in the county.
“There was quite a bit of damage and some injuries,” Lamar County Sheriff Travis Rhodes told CNN.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said he was praying for Oklahomaans affected by the tornadoes that hit several counties.
He tweeted that search and rescue teams and generators were heading to the Idabel area, a town of about 7,000 people in southeastern Oklahoma.
“The storm hit Brian, Choctaw and Le Flor counties. There were flash floods in some areas,” he said.
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Tornadoes are a frequent and often destructive weather phenomenon in the United States, with Kansas, Oklahoma and the Great Plains states of Texas hardest hit.
Dozens of devastating tornadoes swept across five U.S. states overnight in December, killing at least 79 people in Kentucky — with deaths also recorded in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.
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