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Southern Texas struck by deadly tornado
A tornado with wind speeds of 86 to 110 mph. hit Laguna Heights, Texas with no warning killing one person and damaging dozens of residences (13 May 2023)
AP
Following an outbreak of tornadoes across parts of the United States, severe weather and a tornado left a community near the southern tip of Texas reeling from damages ahead of hurricane season.
Meanwhile, record-breaking heat will bake Seattle and Portland again Sunday, and there is no relief in sight until the middle of the week, forecasters say.
Temperatures are far beyond normal for the spring, 20 to 25 degrees higher than usual for May, prompting the National Weather Service to issue heat advisories from the Canadian border south into California.
And parts of Texas, including the Houston area, could get hit with bands of heavy rain, bringing the possibility of flash flooding.
Texas tornado cleanup continues
The southern tip of Texas is still cleaning up after a powerful tornado tore through the community of Laguna Heights at about 4 a.m. Saturday, killing one person and sending at least 10 others to local hospitals.
Among the injured at local hospitals, two people were listed in critical condition, according to Tom Hushen, emergency management coordinator for Cameron County. Many residents also suffered cuts and bruises.
The victim was identified as Roberto Flores, 42, who died after being “basically crushed as a result of the damage to his mobile home,” said Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr.
The tornado hit as most people were in their homes asleep in the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights, located on the mainland across from South Padre Island, off the Gulf of Mexico.
About 60 homes were damaged and officials said a temporary shelter in the nearby city of Port Isabel was providing help to 38 people. County Sheriff Eric Garza said residents didn’t want to leave their homes because of burglary fears.
Treviño issued a nighttime curfew for residents 17 and under to “mitigate the effects of this public health and safety emergency.” The order also restricts non-residents from entering Laguna Heights.
Unlike hurricanes, where advance warning is possible, there’s no way of knowing when tornadoes will hit. The first warning of a tornado “went out at the same time it was touching ground,” said Barry Goldsmith, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Brownsville.
Tornadoes in the area are also a rare occurrence, according to weather service meteorologist Angelica Soria.
Seattle, Portland brace for record temperatures
Portland, Oregon and Seattle will sizzle Sunday after an already sweltering Saturday.
“We could see another day of record temperatures Sunday. Portland could top the low to mid-90s,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Zack Taylor at the Weather Prediction Center.
Overnight temperatures in Portland will also be “unusually high, ranging from the upper 50s to mid 60s,” the National Weather Service in Portland said Sunday.
Seattle highs could top out in the upper 80s and perhaps 90 degrees, which would be a record as well, he said.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST IN THE OVEN: A record-breaking heat wave is forecast for the Pacific Northwest this weekend
“Normal temperatures in Seattle in May would average a high in the mid-60s, so we’re looking at readings that are going to be 20 to 25 degrees above normal. That’s pretty significant,” he said.
By Sunday afternoon, parts of Washington state saw new daily high record temperatures, the National Weather Service in Seattle said.
Quillayute, a hamlet about 200 miles northwest of Seattle, hit 88 degrees Sunday and surpassed its 2014 record of 83 degrees. And Hoquiam, a city about 113 miles southwest of Seattle, saw a record high temperature of 90 degrees.
“This is the warmest temp ever observed there in the month of May since records began in 1953,” the weather service said.
The weather service also warned of potential fires as conditions around much of the region remained “breezy and dry.”
High temperatures in the region are rare and few homes are built with them in mind. The Seattle area has one of the lowest rates of homes with access to air conditioning in the nation, at about 53% according to the 2021 American Housing Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. With increasing heat waves hitting because of climate change, that figure has increased from 31% in 2013.
This springtime heatwave in the Pacific Northwest is an example of something climate researchers have known was coming and been projecting for a long time, said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and a professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
“Heat waves are becoming more frequent, longer and more extreme. This early heat wave is consistent with that pattern,” she said.
The high temperatures could continue well into the coming week, but there is a possibility of cooling thunderstorms and showers in some areas Tuesday or Wednesday, said Jake Sojda, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.
Those could bring their own problems because some of those thunderstorms could be dry, bringing thunder and lightning strikes but no rain. “It’s a double-edged sword,” he said.
“You could have lightning strikes on vegetation that’s drying out in the heat. Some of the storms could provide heat relief but also pose a wildfire threat,” he said.
Low-lying parts of Houston at risk for flooding
A plume of moisture that’s stretching from the Gulf of Mexico through Texas and into the Central Plains states is carrying heavy rains that are hitting Texas and especially the Houston area, Taylor said.
“They already had 1 to 2 inches of rain that fell locally overnight and early this morning. They’ve now got the potential for another 1 to 2 inches and maybe higher amounts locally,” he said.
That could mean as much as 4 or 5 inches of rain in some parts of the greater Houston area over the course of Sunday.
“There’s already been plenty of flash flooding reported in between San Antonio and Houston through the weekend. This will continue to push slowly eastward and start to dissipate over the course of the evening,” Sojda said.
Officials warned residents of Montgomery and Harris counties, including the city of Houston, of likely flooding across the region Sunday. Some roads closed due to high water and the National Weather Service in Houston warned people to turn around for barricades.
The heavy rain extends up across portions of central Oklahoma, across eastern Kansas and into northern Missouri.
While there is some danger of heavy rains and possible flooding as the storms travel north, in general, the threat has been minimal, Sojda said.
“That’s been more of a steady rain and that’s been beneficial because there’s been a drought in some of those areas. The rain hasn’t been so heavy that it’s been damaging,” he said.
Calm, mild week for the rest of the nation
Outside of the Pacific Northwest and flood watch areas, the rest of the country could be in for a pleasant week, Sojda said.
“It looks to be quiet and pretty nice across the northern tier for the next couple of days,” he said. “Expect dry, sunny and mild.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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