garland tx tornado
Chopper 5 surveys the damage along Freeport Drive near Bobtown Road and Zion Road in Garland on Sunday, December 27, 2015.
Eleven people have died, including a young child, after severe storms spawned several tornadoes Saturday afternoon and evening in North Texas, officials say.

The full extent of damage in Texas isn't yet known, though it stretched over about a 40-mile-long area from 20 miles south of Dallas to northeast of the city. The storm blew the roofs off homes, mangled vehicles, damaged churches, downed power lines, toppled trees and caused natural gas lines to burst.

"Driving around the area, you can see that it's total devastation," Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said.

Barineau said Sunday morning that eight people have died and 15 were injured in Garland, which is about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. That death toll went up by three since Saturday night.


"This is a huge impact on our community and we're all suffering," he said.

Barineau said the single tornado hit about 6:45 p.m. and damage stretches across an area of 2 square miles, and was near the intersection of Interstate 30 and George Bush Turnpike, which is a major route in the region.
tornado damage garland tx
Chopper 5 surveys the damage along Freeport Drive near Bobtown Road and Zion Road in Garland on Sunday, December 27, 2015.

At least three people who died were found in vehicles, said Barineau, who also noted that some cars appeared to be thrown from the interstate, though it wasn't known whether that was the case for the people found in the vehicles.

Three other people died in Collin County, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, according to sheriff's deputy Chris Havey, although the circumstances were not immediately clear.

In the town of Rowlett near Garland, City Manager Brian Funderburk said Sunday morning that 23 people were injured, though the extent of their injuries weren't know, but that there were no deaths and no reports of missing people.


"As of right now, we are still in the search and rescue mode. We still have some homes that have been demolished and not everyone in the homes has been accounted for," Hernandez said.

Residents were being kept out of part of east Rowlett and heavy equipment was brought in to move debris from homes where people may be trapped inside.

Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement late Saturday that said members of Texas Task Force 1 have been activated to support the ongoing search and rescue efforts in North Texas.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Texas, a snowstorm accompanied by plunging temperatures, was expected to leave up to 16 inches of snow in West Texas and much of New Mexico through Sunday evening, according to NWS meteorologist Brendon Rubin-Oster in College Park, Maryland.

"It's going to be quite dangerous for anyone exposed to these elements," Rubin-Oster said.

DAMAGE REPORTS

Significant storm damage has been reported in Rowlett.

About 600 structures were damaged in Garland, the majority of which were single-family homes.

The Ellis County Emergency Management Agency says about 40 homes there have been damaged or destroyed. Two people were transported to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries and several others were treated on the street for minor injuries, officials said.

At least 30 homes were estimated to be damaged near Farm-to-Market Road 664 near Ovilla.

Red Oak ISD officials say Donald T. Shields Elementary was damaged during the storm. No other campuses were affected, and no one was injured.

SHELTERS

The American Red Cross is launching a region-wide response to the storms and has opened 3 shelters as of Sunday morning.

Those shelters are located in Rowlett at Steadham Elementary School, 6200 Danridge Road, Rowlett.

The Midlothian shelter is located at Longbranch Elementary, 6631 FM 1387, Midlothian.

The Garland shelter is located at Gale Field Recreation Center, 1701 Dairy Road. Garland.

One shelter has opened so far. It is located at Red Oak Middle School, 154 Louise Ritter Blvd. in Red Oak.

A previous version of this story reported that shelters were located at Shields Elementary and Red Oak Middle School, but the information above is the most up-to-date as of Sunday morning.

Officials in Rowlett said they have established a temporary shelter at Steadham Elementary School, located at 6200 Dandridge Road, for those affected by the tornado.

Additional shelters will be opened as needed, the Red Cross said.

If you need to let someone know you're okay, or need to check on a loved one go to http://RedCross.org/SafeandWell or call 1-800-REDCROSS.

Anyone interested in helping the storm victims is asked to make a donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund at http://www.redcross.org or by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10.

POWER OUTAGES:

Severe storms left thousands without power. Here is the latest count of customers affected by outages, according to Oncor, as of 11:55 p.m. Saturday:
  • Collin County: 309
  • Dallas County: 6,197
  • Johnson County 2,423
  • Ellis County: 1,275
  • Rockwall County: 6,065
  • Tarrant County: 589
DELAYS & CLOSURES:

Passengers waiting for flights at Dallas Love Field were temporarily moved away from windows during the storm. Flights were also temporarily halted from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The Dallas Mavericks NBA game was delayed about half an hour because of the storm.