Tornado devastates Perryton, Texas

(16 Jun 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Perryton, Texas - 16 June 2023
1. Wide of front end loader collecting debris
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Izzy Loma, Perryton resident:
“So, I was just sitting inside my living room and was watching TV. And my dad he mentioned, he looking out the window and he's like ‘These clouds look kind of weird.’ I get up and look out the window and I just start seeing debris and trees forming and flying in the air. I told my brother to come look. And by then, the power just shut out. He said, ‘No, we got to go.’ So as soon as we're leaving the house, we could see like the actual tornado just right there beside our house. And it didn’t actually get our house. It got the house over and yeah we barely beat it in time.”
3. Wide of residents removing debris from office
4. SOUNBITE (English) Laura Pina, Perryton resident:
“But it was it was really scary. And of all the damage that we have, my room is the one that's intact out of the whole salon. And we know that that was God because there's a lot of prayer definitely going on in there.”
5. Wide of crews cleaning up in Perryton
STORYLINE:
A deadly tornado swept through the north of the Texas Panhandle town Perryton Thursday, destroying hundreds of homes and knocking out power.

The storm would be blamed for three deaths and more than 100 injuries as it tossed vehicles into buildings and knocked out power and cellphone service in Perryton, a town of 8,000 about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Amarillo, just south of the Oklahoma line.

"I get up and look out the window, and I just start seeing debris and trees forming and flying in the air," Perryton resident Izzy Loma, told The Associated Press. Loma said he and his family fled when the storm began to approach his home.

"We barely beat it in time," Loma said, noting that the storm hit another house nearby.

Cleanup efforts were underway Friday in Texas as the same system that slapped Perryton continued to wreak havoc as it marched across the Deep South, dumping rain in the Florida Panhandle and sending howling winds into Mississippi. In total, the storms were blamed for five deaths: three in Texas, and one each in Florida and Mississippi.

Ochiltree General Hospital in Perryton treated 115 patients suffering minor to major injuries, including head trauma, collapsed lungs, lacerations and broken bones, the medical center said on Facebook.

Earlier this week, damaging winds toppled trees, damaged buildings and blew cars off a highway as powerful storms crossed the South from Texas to Georgia.

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