West Texas town ravaged by tornadoes; 4 fatalities reported with extensive damage

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A series of intense storms resulted in an uncommon mix of multiple tornadoes, winds resembling hurricane strength, and unusually large hail in western Texas. This severe weather event claimed the lives of at least four individuals and inflicted substantial damage throughout the town of Matador, as per a meteorologist’s statement on Thursday.

The extreme weather originated from a supercell that formed around 8 p.m. Wednesday near Amarillo before it descended upon the small town, reported Matt Ziebell, a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service in Lubbock.

Ziebell also reported that this storm later generated winds reaching 109 mph (175 kph) at Jayton, and hail measuring 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) or larger.

“It’s indeed a rarity to observe simultaneous instances of lethal tornadoes, hurricane-strength winds, and hail the size of softballs,” Zeibell commented.

He noted that Wednesday’s conditions represented an unusual confluence of intense wind shear and extremely unstable storms.

Despite the devastation, search and rescue operations were ongoing on Thursday morning, with no known missing persons, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Johnny Bures.

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“Our main priority is to ensure no one was merely passing through town at the time,” Bures noted. “We’re really making sure of that.”

Matador, a small community of about 570 people located 70 miles (112 kilometers) northeast of Lubbock in Motley County, suffered extensive damage. Homes were ruined, structures were leveled, and power lines were broken in half. A local restaurant’s walls were destroyed, leaving only the booths standing in what was described as a “jaw-dropping” scene by Derek Delgado, a representative for Lubbock Fire Rescue, who are providing assistance to the town.

Delgado gave a poignant comparison over the phone, saying, “It’s surreal seeing a general merchandise store completely flattened on one side of the street, while a house on the other side remains standing with vehicles still in the driveway.”

Widespread power outages were reported throughout the region, with over 900 customers in Matador and Jayton alone experiencing outages, as per data from poweroutage.us.

Ziebell suggested that thunderstorms might persist on Thursday, but the likelihood of severe weather accompanied by tornadoes was minimal.

The Matador incident came just six days after another tornado left three people dead and over a hundred injured in Perryton, located in northern Texas Panhandle.

In an unrelated event, another hailstorm at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, near Denver, injured concertgoers on Wednesday night. As reported by KMGH-TV, seven individuals were hospitalized, but none of the injuries were life-threatening. Up to 90 people received treatment for injuries at the amphitheater itself, according to West Metro Fire Rescue.

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More about West Texas Tornadoes

• National Weather Service in Lubbock
• Texas Department of Public Safety
• PowerOutage.US
• West Metro Fire Rescue
• KMGH-TV
• Latest on Tornadoes in North Texas
• Mississippi hammered by tornadoes
• Red Rocks Amphitheater